The project «Trollhaus – Maison de Troll» ventures into the realm of trolls. In a congress, four internet activists call for self-authorisation in digital space. After all, one of the activists almost died during a bot-attack on their household machines. Tim Zulauf ’s documental-theatrical installation presents possible countermeasures. The content stems from two workshops Zulauf held with cyber-activists, artists and media-theorists from Tunisia, Switzerland, Austria and Germany. In open, 75-minute loops, the four performers – Najoua Zouhaïr and Riadh Hamdi from Tunisia, Vivienne Bullert and Christoph Rath from Zurich and the Tunis-based percussionist Jihed Khrimi – develop a multilayered, complex and ever-changing cosmos, in which the burning questions of the cyber-age can be experienced: Who controls whom and how? Who can one trust? What corporealities and politics arise out of networking virtuality with reality? The quest is revolving around the so called «Hamba-protocol». It proposes new logics of networking, as today‘s founding Internet-protocols are limiting our possibilities to interconnect. Because the global networks and programming-authorities are more and more dominated by US-America, by strictly following market-oriented or functional interests, they are becoming ruling, neo-colonial infrastructures, as well. But why not coding in Arab? And why not inspire new forms of interaction between humans and machines?
Duration: 70 minutes, in three loops. Languages: Tunesian, French, German
Cast
Performance: Vivien Bullert, Riadh Hamdi, Christoph Rath, Najoua Zouhaïr | Music & Percussion: Jihed Khmiri | Text & project: Tim Zulauf – with Azyz Amami, Lina Ben Mhenni, Cahine Gharbi, Haythem El Mekki, Jessica Huber, Wala Kasmi, Shusha Niederberger, Cornelia Sollfrank, Alexander Tuchaček, Christoph Wachter & Mathias Jud und Cecily Walti | Dramaturgy: Andreas Storm | Stage Design, costumes: Monika Schori | Light: Michael Omlin | Sound: Susanne Affolter | Œil extérieur: Alexander Tuchacek, Shusha Niederberger | Production office: Katharina Balzer | Assistence: Sarah E. Müller | Fotos: Nik Spoerri
Shows
Zürcher Theater Spektakel, 19th till 23rd of August 2017, Biennale Dream City Tunis, 4th till 8th of October 2017
Press reviews
«Moreover, in this place (Dar Lassram) we are witnessing a very contemporary form of staging which is positioned between the installation and a very cerebral approach which 'allows' itself to dramatize specific themes for congresses, debates or other forms of professional meetings. [...] Tim Zulauf succeeds, with this approach, in raising the awareness of an audience by force of circumstance, by bringing back to the theatre an uncommonly ultra-realistic approach.» La Presse, Tunis, Asma Drissi, 15.10.2017
«...the intensity of contemporary-conscious thinking about the present and the future...» Tages-Anzeiger, Christoph Scheider, 22.08.2017
« ‹Trollhaus› is about language and technology, about communication and protocols. It is then about the business of the theatre itself and its production: how does it create its space? And last but not least: it is about us. So it is an imposition in the best sense.» Der Landbote, Stefan Busz, 22.08.2017
Production partners
Pro Helvetia, Association L’Art Rue Tunis, Swiss Embassy Tunis
Photographs: Nik Spoerri, Tim Zulauf, Mahdi Bechaouech, Mahdi Belhassen, Heithem Chebbi, Rahma Megarech, Nadhem Mouedhe, Coriene Grasi, Videostills: Tim Zulauf
