MASCHEK: THE OTHER SIDE
By Kerstin Schuetz-Mueller
Maschek isn't a name, it's a Viennese term for "otherness," the "Maschekseite" being the "Maschek-side," and thus the "other side." There is no fitting term to describe who maschek are, so for lack of an alternative, "Austrian comedy trio" will have to suffice. What began in 1999 as a hobby for Peter Hörmanseder, Ulrich Salamun, and Robert Stachel has since evolved into an Austrian cult classic that has even spilled over the borders into Germany and Switzerland. Thanks to the Internet, and especially the advent of YouTube, maschekian comedy has become ubiquitous.
Years ago, the trio started to buy up old photographic slide collections and super-8 films at flea markets and then made up stories based on this found material. They took it a step further and began to perform bitingly satirical live voiceovers for video material they found in the archives of Austria's national broadcaster ORF. In 2006, maschek were embraced by that same institution and given a slot on the TV show Dorfer's Donnerstalk. This is what finally made them a household name.
The "other side" that maschek inhabit is like a bizarre parallel universe, one in which they remake the rules and rewrite history. A debate between candidates for the last Austrian presidential campaign is dubbed as a televised coin toss to determine the winner of the election. A children's television puppet show becomes a reality show about a trash-talking dysfunctional family of bears, and Barack Obama ends up delivering his speech in Germany - in German.
In their performances, maschek display total irreverence in taking on politicians, celebrities, television personalities, etc. Their observations are canny and very much to the point, putting their finger on controversial aspects and sore spots of (Austrian) politics and society. What's more, Hörmanseder, Salamun, and Stachel are sophisticated performers who can switch between characters, inflections, and accents in a split second without losing their timing.
Now, for the first time, maschek will be bringing their unique and exhilarating brand of comedy to the United States, with two performances at the ACFNY this May.
www.maschek.org
www.youtube.com/profile?user=maschek
WEDNESDAY MAY 27, 7:30 PM
COMEDY
MASCHEK.REDET.DRÜBER
(German version)
A GREAT TELEVISION SWINDLE
ACFNY
THURSDAY MAY 28, 7:30 PM
COMEDY
MASCHEK.TALKS.IT.OVER
(English version)
A GREAT TELEVISION SWINDLE
ACFNY
RE-IMAGINING UTOPIA IN NEW YORK CITY 2009
ANNUAL PERFORMANCE SERIES
SATURDAY JUN 6
"In a time of global crisis, when beliefs and hopes have been tested, culture is the bridge that connects people and rebuilds trust. Art can provide a utopian vision for the future...."
(Olga Sviblova)
"Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?"
(Barack Obama)
Against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, Austrian-based and NYC-based dance and performance artists as well as theorists are invited to join in an encounter to search for creative strategies of survival, for alternative models of artistic practice that transcend crisis and are inventive, imaginative, and sustainable. The site is New York City as a landscape, as a rambling mess, as an icon, as a construct, as a fantasy.
Four artist groups and one theorist from Austria and four artist groups and one theorists from NYC will work independently to frame their imaginings around these concepts in a performative or discursive way. The Austrian-based group will travel to NYC and within a four-day working period the Austrian-based and NYC-based artists will have the opportunity to dialogue about their imaginings through various modalities such a blogging, studio visits, and collaboration. The idea is to find a common ground in the uncertainty of the future. In this way New York is new again for everyone. The goal is a fresh confrontation with both the city and with one another, an imaginative rendezvous that works towards a bombastic, potentially impossible and unrealizable fiction of the artist's - and not only - perfect future. At the end of the four days an audience will be invited to witness the research, fictions, strategies, and fantasies generated by this Austria-NYC dialogue.
RE-IMAGINING is the continuation of an initiative by the Austrian Cultural Forum NYC in conjunction with Tanzquartier (Vienna) and Movement Research (NYC) started in 2008 called the Transversality Lab (TVL).
ACFNY
and other venues in Bushwick, Brooklyn
