Rehearsals for Being Human

Rehearsals for Being Human is a video choreography in four parts: Yes, No, Smile and Breath.

The video installation Rehearsals for Being Human explores how emotions are expressed and how the face becomes a place where communication, feelings and subconscious layers come together. Within recognizable gestures: nodding yes, smiling, shaking no and breathing, new meanings continuously emerge. The movements in the four films begin minimally and quietly. Slowly, the familiar expressions become unstable and uncomfortable; they develop into extremes and eventually become disordered. The faces come to rest and begin again. Within these familiar movements, shifting associations continuously arise: intimacy, seduction, fear, ridicule, aggression, loss of control.

The four choreographies were developed during a six week research process with five performers, in which shared human experiences were explored through the expressive possibilities of the face: emotional expression and the physical and mental mechanisms of facial expression. It was a rehearsal in being human.

Yes: five people of different ages, look directly at the viewer and nod yes. The yes movements begin restrained, almost meditative, sometimes synchronized, develop into a collective rhythm, as if the bodies form one organism, arrive at a shared image of surrender and then begin again.

Smile: three younger people. Very slowly, the corners of their mouths curl upward into a subtle smile. Then a burst of laughter follows. The roaring laughter gradually transforms from an animalistic expression into a silent, piercing scream. The faces relax and return to neutrality. Then the scene repeats.

No: two older people shake their heads, faster and faster. The head becomes a machine, with associations of strict parents, but also of madness and confusion.

Breath: a young woman breathes in and breathes out. At first she appears calm, but her breathing becomes deeper and deeper. Interlocking associations unfold with meditation, exertion, making love, climaxing, giving birth, drowning and dying. Then she regains her calm and the sequence begins again.

Roos van Geffen: “The idea for this series arose after the birth of my daughter; a deeply transformative experience that set unconscious fears and deep emotions in motion. At the same time, there was wonder at new life and curiosity about the ever-changing facial expressions on that little face. Looking back, Rehearsals for Being Human is an important link in the development of my ongoing research into how emotions, experiences, and memories are stored in the body and come into motion. I felt that I had created something that truly resonated; the precision, the discomfort, the unconscious being addressed, but it is also, in its entirety, a self-portrait of that which I usually keep hidden.”

Performers: Anne van Balen, Thijs Bloothoofd, Fried Mertens, Nathalie Smoor, Johanna van Steen, editing and camera: Magda Augusteijn, visualisations: Lisanne Hakkers, photos Gert Jan van Rooij

The installation 

The films are projected at eye level, slightly larger than life-size, so that the viewer can physically relate to the work.

The films are also shown individually and in varying arrangements. As a 4-channel video installation, the films are projected onto four black projection screens, slightly larger than life-size and suspended at eye level. The viewer can move freely between the screens and view the projections on both sides, where faces of different ages and backgrounds alternately relate to them.