Practice and theory of the body in motion and stillness
A workshop on movement and meaning

A two days workshop on the body-in-motion, on moving by ourselves and with others. A workshop on movement and meaning, be it retrieved through everyday actions, skills of embodiment or touch and interaction.

We will try to analyse the body-in-motion in practice through confronting movement and action with concepts of space, issues of temporality and philosophical ideas on understanding this body-in-motion.
Where and when does composition start to take place? Who is in charge of this composition and how do I control what I express or represent?

From sensory touch to overpowering interaction, from holding motion to holding stillness, from head to toe, from right here to over there, from the quotidian to the artefact, from myself to the other.


Philipp Gehmacher
Philipp Gehmacher grew up in Salzburg and in Vienna. In 1993 he went to London Contemporary Dance School where he received a BA in Contemporary Dance in 1996. After the first solo "the mumbling fish" he enrolled for an MA Dance Studies at Laban Centre London which he was awarded in 1999. After ten years in London he returned to Vienna during the Summer 2003.

During his final period in London he choreographed the pieces "in the absence", "Holes and Bodies" and "embroyder". For the opening of Tanzquartier Wien in 2001 he created the duet "good enough", which, after a period of international touring, was reworked into a new version with the choreographer Raimund Hoghe in 2004 and last shown at ÖsterreichTanzt 06.
With "mountains are mountains" he presented his first evening length group piece coproduced by Springdance Utrecht, Tanzquartier Wien, Podewil Berlin and Vooruit Gent. During the season 2004/05 he realised the project "incubator", which was created over four stops in Vienna, Berlin, Brussels and Lyon. The coproducing partners Tanzquartier Wien, Hebbel am Ufer Berlin, Kaaitheater Brüssel and Les Subsistances Lyon were each presenting a unique version of the developing piece.

In Spring 2006 the solo "das überkreuzen beyder hände" with the pianist Alexander Lonquich, initiated by Mozarteum Salzburg, Szene Salzburg and ImPulsTanz Wien, was premiered at the Dialoge Festival in the Mozarteum Salzburg. Upon an invitation of Montpellier Danse Festival, Philipp Gehmacher created in the frame of Le Vif de Sujet the solo "between now and then" for the French dancer Frédéric Schrackenmuller.

2007 saw the premiere of both the trio "like there’s no tomorrow (trio)", coproduced by Tanzquartier Wien, Kaaitheater Brussels, Montpellier Danse 07, Centre National de la Danse Pantin and Pact Zollverein Essen and the duet "Maybe foreve"r, coproduced by Kaaitheater Brussels, Volksbühne Berlin, Theatre de la Ville Paris, Wexner Arts Centre Columbus, Ohio, created with the American choreographer Meg Stuart.

For Tanzquartier Wien he curated the series "Still Moving" in March 2008, introducing the Lecture Performance format "walk+talk", which he is currently touring. The video installation dead reckoning, created together with the visual artist Vladimir Miller has been premiered at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna in January 2009 and will be shown next at steirischer herbst 2009.

2001 Philipp Gehmacher was the Austrian participant of the EU-project Apap intiated by Szene Salzburg with Residences in Kortrijk, Berlin and Lisbon. 2002 he was touring with the Dance Road Network organised by dietheater Wien. Philipp Gehmacher’s choreographic works have been shown at the Choreographic Platform Austria in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2009.
2000 he received the Bonnie Bird New Choreography Award and 2002 a prestigious Jerwood Choreography Award. He was Artist in Residence at dietheater Wien in 2002 and at Tanzquartier Wien during the season 2003/04.

2006 the book "incubator", edited by Philipp Gehmacher, Angela Glechner and Peter Stamer was published and launched by Passagen Verlag Wien.