RICARDO FRAYHA
producer

This project, based on the traditional operatic universe and the author's private and critical view of the Wagnerian idea of ​​opera as a "total work of art", Christoph Schlingensief occupied, during 19 days, 1200 m2 of the then temporary Sesc Belenzinho unit, with this work that more than a criticism or the staging of an opera, was built not as a spectacle to be watched, but as something to be experienced. His works always dismantle the mechanisms of erudite culture, mixing elements of the considered elite culture and disposable elements of popular culture in its broadest sense. Turning stages, projections, classic theatre, corner bars, samba, lyrical singing, karaoke and electronic music, backstage and dressing rooms, divas and extras, artists and ordinary people compose something endless and fairy in the various spaces of this installation. References known as fundamental in the art world are here mixed, in same importance, with a profusion of elements of our consumerist culture. The entrance to this "parallel universe" takes place by means of a Ghost Train , in which everything and everyone who embarks there are no longer spectators and passengers, but protagonists and ghosts.

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CHRISTOPH SCHLINGENSIEF

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Christoph Schlingensief (Oberhausen, 1960 - Berlin, 2010) constantly challenged and transgressed boundaries in his life and art. His work included experimental and feature film, theater, opera, performance, installation, literature, TV shows, radio plays... His art anticipates, comments on and reacts to its social context, touching on topics such as German history, religion, the institution of the family and media representations of current events. His radical and provocative demand for action and reaction question what he viewed as a destructive sense of political and artistic complacency and secured his exceptional position in contemporary art. Born in Oberhausen, Germany in 1960, Schlingensief worked internationally for more than thirty years until his death in 2010. Not beholden to any one medium, Schlingensief moved between genres and disciplines dealing with political extremism and social discontentment, history and the present, combining these issues with universal questions relating to faith and superstition, truth and deception, and life and death. Whether creating films, critiquing society, establishing his own political party, building a reproduction of his childhood church, performing on stage until imprisoned by local law enforcement, founding a functioning Opera Village in Africa, or installing museum exhibitions, Schlingensief engaged deeply with his cultural and artistic milieu. He directed plays by William Shakespeare and operas by Richard Wagner, and was profoundly influenced by Joseph Beuys, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and the Viennese Actionists.

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GHOST TRAIN

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Installation, direction and films: Christoph Schlingensief

Guest cast: Klaus Beyer, Karin Witt, Stefan Kolosko | Cast: Alexandra Borges, Alexandre Antunes, AlexandreNascimento, Ana Carmen Collado, Andréa Rafael, Andressa Miguel, Antonio Correia, Arnaldo Moura, Apollo Faria, Ana Claudia Faria, Beatriz Nunes, Betiane Cristina, Bruna Vieira, Camila Faria, Camila Nascimento, Camila Vinhas, Cintia Valéria, Clara Coelho, Cleuby de Carvalho, Creusa Barbosa, Cristiane Martins, Darci Campos, Del Cestal, Eduardo Amir, Edilson Morais, Eduardo Lettiere, Érika Inforsato, Fabiana Lucas, Fabrício Pedroni, Fernando Bento, Geraldo Silva, Gilda Moraes, Graziela Campanha, Iolanda Camargo, Isa Silva, Isabel Nascimento, Isis Junqueira, Jailson Nascimento, Jairo Basilio, Joana Darc Pereira, João Luiz Ferreira, João Nascimento Loduvico, Laís Lia Campani, Laryssa Moraes, Leonardo Cavalcanti, Lilian Castanyo, Lourdes dos Santos, Luana Csermak, Luiz Collazi, Marcello Augusto Mesquita, Márcia Malaquias, Márcio Yaccof, Marcos Abranches, Margarida Leite, Maria Aldeny Pinto, Maria Aparecida de Azevedo, Maria Bezerrade Morais, Maria Lucia Ferreira, Maria Rita Ferreira, Maria Rodrigues de Souza, Marina Lopes de Campos, Maxwell de Almeida, Michele Tomás, Miguel Batista, Nina Wiziak, Ones Antônio Cervelin, Osvaldo da Silva, Paula Francisquetti, Paulo Borges, Patrick Aguiar, Paulo H. Santos, Priscila Martin, Priscila Olegário, Reinaldo Silva, Renata Cristina, Renato do Vale, Rodrigo Sanches, Rodrigo Lisboa, Rosa Luna Ferreira, Silvia Rosana Pereira, Simone Luiz, Simony Rodrigues, Suhzy Costa, Tatiana Aguiar, Valéria Manzalli, Verinho, Verônica Giordano, Virgínia Laís de Souza, Vitor Gomes, Weverton Batista, Wilson Benati, Yoshiko Nagahasi

Scenography: Thekla von Mülheim, Ben Neumann, Julio Cesarini | Costume design: Simone Mina, Vanessa Poitena | Video: Marília Halla | Sound: Uwe Altmann | Sound design: Renilson Celestino dos Santos | Lighting: Paulo José Ribeiro | Co-Director: Sophia Simitzis, Leonard Schattschneider | Choreographer: Adriana Almeida | Cast coach: Stefan Kolosko | Make-up: Murad, Anderson Batista | Contribution of images: Georg Soulek (photos), Aino Laberenz (photos), Meika Dresenkamp (video and editing), Kathrin Krottenthaler (video and editing)

Production: prod.art.br | Production Directors: Ricardo Muniz Fernandes, Matthias Pees | Production assistants: Clarissa Mastro, Evandro Almeida, Iramaia Gongora, Julian Poerksen, Patricia Brito, Ricardo Frayha, Veridiana Fernandes | Translators: Annette Ramershoven, Dieter Gern | Technical direction: Julio Cesarini | Technicians: Wiliam Torres, Ednomar Mendonça, Cássio Luiz | Costume production: Rosangela Longhi | Dressmakers: Adelina da Silva Gomes, Alcina Nogueira, Silvia de Castro | Wardrobe assistants: Catherine de Lima, Inara Gomide | Architectural project: Selma Bosquê

 

Realisation: Sesc São Paulo, Goethe-Institut

Sesc Mostra de Artes Circulations

Temporary unit of Sesc Belenzinho

São Paulo, SP, Brazil

22/11 to 03/12/2007