David Levine, the founder of the Performance programme at ECLA, has been recently awarded a grant from the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (the Federal Cultural Foundation) to undertake an experimental performance project as part of the Arbeit in der Zukunft (Work in the Future) theme.
In the project, entitled BAUERNTHEATER, an actor will play the role of a farmer for one month, beginning May 2007, cultivating one hectare of land in Brandenburg for 14 hours each day. The actor in this project is both taking part in a performance as well as actually engaging in land cultivation. The land art performance highlights the dichotomy between nature and culture, rural and urban life, work and art. At the same time, it points to the future role of farmers in agriculture simulation and eco-tourism.
The project’s rehearsal phase takes place in New York and the actual performance will be open to viewers in May 2007 at the Biorama-Projekt, a land art centre in the UNESCO Biosphärenreservat in Joachimsthal, just outside Berlin. The performer, David Barlow, will give a series of intensive acting workshops at ECLA during his stay in Germany.