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Holoscenes

Lars Jan

People sitting in a giant aquarium in the heart of the city. They are subjected to cyclical flooding. An extraordinary visual and visceral experience, Holoscenes questions our ability to respond to chaos.

Details

Sweet, hypnotic and vital, water can also flood and devastate. An extraordinary aquatic performance, Holoscenes floats between dream and reality, between the world as we know it and the catastrophe that looms. In this living installation, American artist Lars Jan faces up to the intriguing beauty of devastation. An urgent SOS and a call for resilience.

A giant aquarium sits imposingly in the heart of the city—on the new Esplanade Tranquille. Scenes from daily life unfold there: someone tunes a guitar, someone else sells fruit or reads the newspaper. In less than a minute, they are submerged under twelve tonnes of water. Amid this captivating chaos, their gestures are transformed and people adapt. Mixing dance and physical theatre, the artist holds up a mirror to passersby reflecting the fight against climate upheavals. How far can we go in adapting? An extraordinary visual and visceral experience.

We’ve done everything we can to reduce the environmental impact of presenting Holoscenes. Learn more

Credits

Created and Produced by Early Morning Opera / Lars Jan

Created and Produced by Early Morning Opera

Conceived and Directed by Lars Jan

Choreographed by Geoff Sobelle

Performed by Benjamin Kamino + Emmanuelle Martin + Annie Saunders + Geoff Sobelle

Show Control and Lighting Design Pablo N. Molina

Sound Design Nathan Ruyle + Mikaal Sulaiman

Sound Engineering Duncan Woodbury

Costume Design Irina Kruzhilina

Technical Director Eric Lin

Project Manager Christopher Pye

Company Manager Alexandria Yalj

Hydraulic Design Larry McDonald

Automation Design Erich Bolton

Created with the support of Robert Rauschenberg Foundation + MAP Fund + Surdna Foundation (New York) + NEA

This engagement is supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts + Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Presented by Hydro-Québec with the support of The Cole Foundation + Quartier des spectacles Partnership in association with Écoscéno

Quebec première

Written by Elsa Pépin

Translated by Neil Kroetsch + David Dalgleish

Premiered at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Toronto, on October 4, 2014

Lars Jan (Los Angeles)
Early Morning Opera

The American artist Lars Jan is the son of immigrants from Afghanistan and Poland. Multidisciplinary in his approach, he is a director, writer and visual artist and the founder of Early Morning Opera, a laboratory that combines live performance with new technologies and unique experiences.

Full biography