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Alexandra Bachzetsis

Escape Act

Does gender have a voice, does skin have a race? Or can we observe bodies without ascribing a gender, race, age or class – in short, value – to them? In Escape Act, Alexandra Bachzetsis joins philosopher, activist and dramatist Paul B. Preciado to investigate the mechanisms of desire. Using drag, vogueing, striptease, YouTube tutorials as well as the triadic ballet by Oskar Schlemmer, seven bodies and many more objects try out new constellations, like surrealist ready-mades. Within the dominant logic of desire, bodies are male or female, real or fake, successful or failures, and objects serve as disposable prosthetics. Can we overturn that logic? With a great sense of irony, the production presents hyper-stereotyped gender identities, only to deconstruct them completely. What Escape Act demonstrates is that signs are not to be trusted.

• Alexandra Bachzetsis is a choreographer and visual artist. Her multidisciplinary oeuvre focuses on the construction of images and bodies in mainstream popular culture. Her work has been shown in theatres, museums and art biennales. In 2010, she presented Dream Season at the Kaaistudios, as part of the first WoWmen.

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concept & choreography : Alexandra Bachzetsis | creation & performance : Alexandra Bachzetsis, Jia-Yu Corti, Tamar Kisch, Owen Ridley-DeMonick, Gus Solomons/Philippe Beloul, Johanna Willig-Rosenstein, Sotiris Vasiliou | text :Paul B. Preciado (Excerpts from the poem Love is a drone) | collaboration, dramaturgy, movement director: Anne Pajunen | collaboration, dramaturgy, objects: Sotiris Vasiliou | communication design :Julia Born | photography :Blommers & Schumm | costume design : Christian Hersche & Ulla Ludwig | music :Lies Vanborm, François De Meyer (Audiotheque) | music research : Anna Zaradny | light design & technique: Patrik Rimann | Photo credits : Blommers & Schumm

production/association : All Exclusive | management : Anna Geering | production : Marina Miliou | production assistant : Felipe Katotriotis | casting assistant : Daphni Antoniou, Claudia Toggweiler | supported by Stadt Zürich, Kanton Zürich & Pro Helvetia-Schweizer Kulturstiftung, Fachausschuss Tanz & Theater BS/BL, Société Suisse des Auteurs, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Migros-Kulturprozent, Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation, kurimanzutto | co-production Gessnerallee, PACT Zollverein, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Les spectacles vivants du Centre Pompidou, Kaserne Basel, Tanzhaus Zürich