Michael Laub / Remote Control Productions

Founded in 1981 by director-choreographer Michael Laub, Remote Control Productions emerged from the Performance Art group Maniac Productions (1975–79). The company has presented works in different forms, genres and sub-genres ranging from intimate, low-tech solo pieces (Out of Sorts, Pigg in Hell, Alone/Gregoire) to large-scale biographies (The H.C. Andersen Project, The Biography Remix), deconstructed soap-opera/musical (Rough, Total Masala Slammer/Heartbreak No. 5), and literature-based pieces (Planet Lulu: Wedekind; Frankula: Shelley/Stoker/de Sade). Remote Control performances make use of influences derived from various media – video, visual arts, and especially cinema – all generally approached from a minimalist perspective. Material created during rehearsals is often incorporated within a preconceived fictional framework.

The casts assembled in different cities around Europe, New York and Mumbai by Remote Control Productions frequently include professional dancers/performers as well as nonprofessionals making their first appearance on the stage.

Since the sci-fi inspired choreography of Daniel and the Dancers (1994), Laub has increasingly made use of dance, enhancing the rhythmic nature of his productions while attempting to place on an equal footing the formal elements deployed (text, dance, set design, video, music, lights).

Although Laub is noted for his extreme cut-up technique (Return of Sensation, Rewind Song), some of his more recent productions have taken a more linear direction. In 2002, he began adapting portraiture to the stage, using no narrative pretext other than his subject. The Portrait Series project was initiated by Tom Stromberg, then director of the Hamburg Schauspielhaus, who was struck by the portrait-like qualities of Laub’s earlier solo works and decided to commission a series of six-minute pieces (Portraits 360 Seconds) presenting Schauspielhaus actors and employees (an usher, a cleaning woman, a chauffeur, extras). For the Roma Europa Festival in 2004, Laub created a portrait of Performance artist Marina Abramovic and her work (The Biography Remix). This production was followed by portraits of company members Astrid Endruweit and Greg Zuccolo (The Portrait Series: Alone/Gregoire). The pieces contained both highly artificial and radically realistic material ranging from intimate, sometimes poetic, diary excerpts to trashy home movies. The images projected in these portraits reflect aspects of who the performers are or would like to be. As of 2007, the concept was broadened by auditioning casts in various cities, leading to Portrait Series Berlin Professional and Non-Professional Dancers as the first installment.

Regular collaborators of the company include composer Larry Steinbacheck, whose soundscapes have been integral components of most Remote Control pieces since 1989, actress-singer Charlotte Engelkes (until 1996), and Performance artist Marina Abramovic, who created sets for several company productions as well as collaborating with Laub on Fragilissimo and The Biography Remix. More recent additons, since 1999, have been dancer-choreographer Greg Zuccolo, lighting designer Nigel Edwards, technical director Jochen Massar, sound designer Jean-Pierre Urbano, and performer-video artist Astrid Endruweit, whose latest installation Woman with Cake was co-produced by the company.

External Links:
Wikipedia