Introduction

Fraudulent Light – and the Epidemy of Oblivion is an experimental dance theatre work based on art history professor Jonathan Crary’s idea of the present illuminated from all directions, as a pastless and ghostless space without protective darkness.

Inspired by the choreographies of Pina Bausch and Tanztheater Wuppertal from over 40 years ago, Fraudulent Light emerges as a ‘ghost theatre’: it is loosely based on already existing forms and ideas in performing arts, on the act of remembering, on that which has existed for a long time. It both reflects the past and creates something new with the gifts it has given. Nine performers surrender to the fraudulent light and oblivion in a work that focuses on the ambiguity, ecstasy and love that comes from being human.

Fraudulent Light – and the Epidemy of Oblivion opens a fabric of scenes, visions and premonitions, recollections and experiences. It is also a performance about touch and its lack, insomnia, bodily metamorphoses, the possibility of dance and probabilities of the future; about the passage of time and melancholy, associations and absurd encounters, chaos and surrendering to it, and most of all about trust in the existence of shadows and ambiguities.