Un-Label Performing Arts Company

The interdisciplinary, mixed-abled performing arts company Un-Label stands for artistic innovation and diversity. It brings together artists from all over Europe. Our performances featuring emerging artists with and without disabilities set new standards. We connects international stakeholders, scientists and experts in the field from the inclusive cultural scene by hosting symposia, research projects and summits. We foster new talents through our series of open inclusive workshops. Artistic Vision We challenge established concepts of body, space and society, which allows us to push beyond the conventional criteria of contemporary culture. In doing so, we venture into territory even unknown to us. Encountering the unfamiliar, otherness and the unknown is the creative driving force behind Un-Label. International Cultural differences create tension, questions, boundaries, desire and encourage an exploratory spirit. Un-Label creates a space for artists who explore the dynamic nature of these differences and make them the foundation of their artistic work. Within a multicultural setting, art becomes the ultimate instrument of communication between individuals and cultures. Interdisciplinary Theatre as a hyper medium: Un-Label considers the equal synergy of different art forms essential for stage work. What is light and what is text, what rhythms do the sounds of the voice take and does sound equal silence? Each element may take the leading role in shaping either a single image or the big picture. The multiple layers of the stories told define the expressive choices. Inclusive Differences are an integral and essential part of progressive artistic processes. Inclusion allows us to take a closer and more conscious look at our differences and commonalities. We think and practise accessibility as aesthetic vocabulary, which helps us expand our artistic expression and increase our social understanding. We connect international stakeholders, scientists and experts in the field from the inclusive cultural scene by hosting symposia, research projects and summits. We foster new talents through our series of open inclusive workshops and masterclasses.

Artistic Vision

We challenge established concepts of body, space and society, which allows us to push beyond the conventional criteria of contemporary culture. In doing so, we venture into territory even unknown to us. Encountering the unfamiliar, otherness and the unknown is the creative driving force behind Un-Label.

International

Cultural differences create tension, questions, boundaries, desire and encourage an exploratory spirit. Un-Label creates a space for artists who explore the dynamic nature of these differences and make them the foundation of their artistic work. Within a multicultural setting, art becomes the ultimate instrument of communication between individuals and cultures.

Interdisciplinary

Theatre as a hyper medium: Un-Label considers the equal synergy of different art forms essential for stage work. What is light and what is text, what rhythms do the sounds of the voice take and does sound equal silence? Each element may take the leading role in shaping either a single image or the big picture. The multiple layers of the stories told define the expressive choices.

Inclusive

Differences are an integral and essential part of progressive artistic processes. Inclusion allows us to take a closer and more conscious look at our differences and commonalities. We think and practise accessibility as aesthetic vocabulary, which helps us expand our artistic expression and increase our social understanding. Our ensembles consist of international artists with and without disabilities. They use their varied types of artistic expression, which include music, dance, theatre, acrobatics, video, and poetry, to create performances that are both complex and accessible. Our work turns accessibility into a source of inspiration, experiment, and artistic creation. Auxiliary means such as captions and sign language are part of the performances and thus become art themselves.

PRESENT

Duration: 50 min

Description: We are travellers. Stuck in the present. In the darkness. Partially present, partially absent. We are like wrapped presents. Surprises waiting to be revealed. As long as the present remains unwrapped, everything is possible. The stories we live destroy the wrapping.

Extra information: PRESENT is the first performance of a research process which is taking place over a number of years. During this process, we want to find new creative approaches that will enable us to create an artistic product as an equal experience for all. Our central question, is to ask ourselves how can we use accessible aids in such a way that they become part of the performance itself, enriching the work with their own aesthetic possibilities, and thus becoming art forms in their own right. In this production, the focus will be on the integration of sign language.

Accessibility: Sign language is an integral part of the performance.

Type of Show: Dance Theatre Performance
Age Rating: 12+
Spoken Language: English

Link to performance website: https://un-label.eu/en/project/present/

People on road: 7

Freight: necessary

Freight details: Boxes and parcels, big Cross Alushape Cretonne ecrü and projection backdrop brought by Un-Label Company.

Re:construction

Duration: Flexible, the exhibition can run continuously, the performative part of the exhibition takes 1h if performed in one piece. Alternatively, it can be broken down in pieces to be performed over an extended period of time.

Description: Re:construction is a multimedia reflection on the limitations of language and the powerlessness of not being able to express one’s feelings. The exhibition addresses this speechlessness that occurs irrespectively of physical barriers as a nucleus of creativity.

Extra information: Re:construction uses videos, language, soundscapes, performative fragments and interactions to create a scenery that invites visitors to project their very own narratives. Speechlessness occurs whenever we experience something beyond mere rationality, beyond our control: fear, sexuality, a near-death experience, an accident, a loss or music. Even if language is insufficient to grasp these experiences, our perception cannot ignore them.

Type of Show: Performative Multimedia Installation
Age Rating: 12+
Spoken Language: English

Link to performance website: https://un-label.eu/en/project/reconstruction/

People on road: 5

Freight: necessary

Freight details: Everything is stowed in suitcases brought by Un-Label Company.

Gravity (and other attractions)

Duration: 35 min

Description: Lolo and Tiki meet on a subway train. They travel through their imagination as they experience different ways of attraction. Gravity (and other attractions) is a contemporary dance theatre duet performed by a deaf (Tiki) and a hearing (Lolo) dancer. They will always be there, even if at times you don’t see or hear them.

Extra information: A poetic English audio description, which is artistically integrated into the performance, builds the creative base of this piece. The descriptive language is the inspiration, the verbal translation and the spoken text of the performance.

Type of Show: Dance Theatre Performance
Age Rating: 12+
Spoken Language: English

Link to performance website: https://un-label.eu/en/project/gravity-and-other-attractions/

People on road: 5

Freight: necessary

Freight details: Everything is stowed in suitcases brought by Un-Label Company.

The Little Prince

Duration: 60 min

Description: Welcome to the incredible story of the Little Prince, retold by a pilot stranded in the desert. Find out how the Little Prince leaves behind his own tiny planet and his beloved rose to travel the universe, coming face to face with the baffling world of grown-ups!

Extra information: The Little Prince is an accessible, mixed-genre performance inspired by the well-known novella written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It tells the story of an adult who meets his inner child through the appearance of a little prince. The story is full of humanistic values and has been passed on from generation to generation for more than 75 years.

The production brings the world-famous story to life in a completely accessible way, using a mixture of spoken word, dance and visuals. The international performers with and without disabilities invite you to look at the world through your heart and to reconnect with your inner child.

Type of Show: Mixed-genre Performance
Age Rating: 12+
Spoken Language: English
Subtitles available in: English, German, Italian, Greek, Armenian

Link to performance website: https://un-label.eu/en/project/the-little-prince/

People on road: 8

Freight: necessary

Freight details: Everything is stowed in suitcases brought by Un-Label Company.

Masterclasses

We welcome artists from all fields to meet key players from the scene and to break new ground in the performing arts. Our regular mixed-abled Cologne masterclasses examine and redefine the boundaries of art, body and creativity.

International Labs

In our international labs, our curated artists with and without disabilities from different backgrounds and cultures come together to exchange and work on ideas and methods.

International Summits

Our summits bring together selected international experts of the inclusive cultural sector and budding artists with and without disabilities from various genres.

International Symposia

Our international symposia offer a platform promoting exchange between artists and cultural, scientific and political operators. This fruitful exchange creates a European network that initiates and drives innovative cooperation.

In-House Workshops

Our in-house workshops are tailored to your specific needs and interests. We offer you an inspiring mix of different artistic approaches, dance, theatre and performance. We show you how to apply these during the inclusive creative process. We work with your ideas and input to develop new ways to express yourself as an artist.

Publications

To ensure that our projects are sustainable, we document the whole process, from finding the ideas and putting them into action, up to the resulting performances. Our publications contain not only information about the respective project, but also valuable advice for inclusive artistic practice.