© David Weber-Krebs

into the big world

performance

In Into the Big World we experience a world where everything is observed, named, categorised and therefore domesticated.

We become acquainted with different species, subspecies, families, genera and taxonomies. We get to know all the plants on the Island of Jamaica, the 24 species of short-tailed crabs in the Red Sea and the hermaphrodite aquatic plant known as water-lily.
Gradually however knowledge becomes more complex as the world does not longer present itself as a stable unity but instead as a system where everything is connected to everything.

Into the Big World places the eighteenth century encyclopedic project as the seed of Modernity.
A worldview where the world was seen as a whole that needed to be known through all its aspects and conquered; a time away from the obscure dogmas of religion and autocracy towards the lights of knowledge, positive sciences and democracy.

Where has this worldview brought us? Can we still observe the world from a distance, when we are its main agents of transformation?

concept & direction
david weber-krebs
performance
katja dreyer, noha ramadan
lighting design
jan fedinger
sound
peter lenaerts
stage
lotte betting
dramaturgy
jonas rutgeerts
dramaturgy & research
marie urban
publication design
stéphanie desmadryl
artistic advice
lars kwakkenbos
production management
daria bubalo
organization
ingrid vranken
distribution
bold
production
infinite endings, kaaitheater, STUK, wpzimmer
with the support of
the flemish community commission, pianofabriek kunstenwerkplaats, kunstencentrum BUDA
special thanks to
amsterdam funds for the arts, anne breure, niki hadikoesoemo, maximilian haas, sandra van der hel, olivier de laveleye, jan-philipp possmann, jean-baptiste van zeebroeck, fridolin weber-krebs, emily williams
première
november 2014, STUK, leuven
    "Into the Big World" publication, p. 27. Image: Melanie Manchot, “LEAP after The Great Ecstacy”, video installation, 2011

In INTO THE BIG WORLD we experience a world where everything is observed, named, categorised and therefore domesticated. We become acquainted with different species, subspecies, families, genera and taxonomies. We get to know all the plants on the Island of Jamaica, the 24 species of short-tailed crabs in the Red Sea and the hermaphrodite aquatic plant known as water-lily. Gradually however knowledge becomes more complex as the world does not longer present itself as a stable unity but instead as a system where everything is connected to everything.

INTO THE BIG WORLD places the eighteenth century encyclopedic project as the seed of Modernity. A worldview where the world was seen as a whole that needed to be known through all its aspects and conquered; a time away from the obscure dogmas of religion and autocracy towards the lights of knowledge, positive sciences and democracy…

This is the beginning of the publication that has been designed by by Stéphanie Desmadryl and constitutes a spin-off of Into the Big World.

This publication, provides a mapping of the project’s explorations of different ontological and epistemological perspectives on the world from premodern times up to the present.

Teaser of 'Into The Big World'
    the flyer of the first version of "Into the Big World" at Het Veemtheater
    Katja Dreyer and Noha Ramadan in the latest version of "Into the Big World", 2014.
    William Titford, "Sketches towards a hortus botanicus Americanus", 1811. Free to use with attribution attribution 4.0 international (cc by 4.0). Wellcome Collection.
In 2014 Pieter T’Jonck has written an article for De Morgen about Into the Big World and a few other projects by David Weber-Krebs. The title of the article is De Romanticus en de kritische geest.

SCRIPT of Into the Big World.

The garden

N: We are surrounded by plants. There are different grasses and bushes and young trees of various size and color.
K: There is a swarm of tiny yellow butterflies flying around nervously. They are all assembling around a tall flower with a very long stem and a multitude of blooming lilac buds. Amongst them is one larger butterfly with a big black eye on its wing. The grasshoppers are making a lot of noise.
N: There is a tiny little frog. It looks very young. It is light green almost fluorescent. Everything is wet around it. A huge grey snake is slithering through the grass. It looks slimy and dangerous. There are bushes. Dark green bushes, no sunlight is reaching in between them those bushes. It is a black hole.
[…]

    Anne Breure and Niki Hadikoesoemo playing the first version of "Into the Big World".
    Anne Breure and Niki Hadikoesoemo playing the first version of "Into the Big World".

Anne Breure and Niki Hadikoesoemo have commissioned David Weber-Krebs to create the first version of Into the Big World for their graduation show as actresses.

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agenda

de brakke grond, amsterdam

performance

kaaitheater, brussels

performance

stuk kunstencentrum, leuven

performance

de brakke grond, amsterdam

performance
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