Grand Opening – 13. May

Mark your calendars for 13^th of May because we are having our grand opening! We have assembled a great line-up with performances, fashion and music acts to welcome you in our new Bears in the Park space in Wien Simmering.

We are thrilled to announce the presence of Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Executive City Councilor for Cultural Affairs and Science, together with the following artists:

CAROLINA CAPPELLI, performance
JANNIS NEUMANN. performance
YOMER, performance
MARIA MERCEDES, dance
SEBASTIJAN GEč/GORAN BUGARIC, dance and fashion
ORLY, concert
MALIKA FANKHA/ DJ malenciaga, performance and DJ-Set

And for all the other important needs, there will be a pay-as-you-wish bar and some fingerfood.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all those who have supported us on this journey, and we invite you to join us in celebrating this momentous occasion. Together, let’s embark on a new chapter of artistic exploration and creativity.

Details:
Date: Monday, 13.05.2024
Time: From 17h
Location: Eyzinggasse 12 (entry on the corner to Otto-Herschmanngasse), 1110 Wien Simmering
Access: Free entry and most of our space is accessible by wheelchair
Language: Mostly English, Some German

Our New Art Place in Wien Simmering

We have searched and wandered through Vienna on a hunt for the perfect new Bears in the Park location. We believe we found it. From April 1st we are located in Wien Simmering in a beautiful brick compound that gives us the possibility to reinstate our artist friendly platform by giving free studio residencies to performing artists.

More so, the new space grants us even more opportunities: We dispose of a big sized studio with over 250 m2, another dance studio with 65 m2, a space for experiments with 35m2 and an Atelier with 22m2. On top comes a spacious kitchen and meeting place, a lobby, a cloackroom, our office and best of all a lovely little garden.

Until now we are in the undertaking of making the space prettier and fresh for your arrival. Our gratitude goes out to Stadt Wien, enabling us to establish this new and promising place for the performing art scene in Vienna.
But besides being a place for the scene, we strive to connect to the cultural landscape of the 11th district. Being a Cultural Ankerzentrum in Wien Simmering, we want to reach out to cultural and artistic groups in the area to foster a lively community of the arts.

Furthermore, from now on we are open for bookings again. If you are in need of a rehearsal space in 2024, don’t hesitate to reach out! Find more information about the residencies on our website.

Handle with Care feat. Huggy Bears Part 2

Also this year, our Huggy Bears artists are part of the imagetanz festival by brut. On two occasions (Part 1+2), the series “Handle with Care” offers each artist/collective the possibility to launch their work-in-progress publicly in Vienna. Right after their sharings, we will engage in a Q&A to spark new ideas and inspirations. This way, the event can generate valuable insights for the further developments of the artists’ projects until their premiere in November 2024.

Handle with Care PART 2 – 21.03 / 22.03, 17:30 -19:30h

MO-ZA-IK (Jamali Abale, Viviane Le Tanzmeister, Rosa Perl & Mátyás Kántor)  – “Elevate”

In Elevate, MO-ZA-IK, a collective of passionate researchers and practitioners within House Dance Culture explore House Dance’s liberatory and healing aspects and delve into it’s communal, transcendental, and cultural dimensions which are rooted in the queer, Black underground community. Their vision is to create an immersive performance merging the physical dimensions of House Dance with healing through communal practices, emphasizing the significance of the Cypher. Through freestyle and intuitive movement exploration, discussions, and incorporating different audio elements, they seek to convey a collective and healing atmosphere, addressing the need for engagement in collectivist practices amidst political separation and pressing global issues.

Sebastijan Geč with Malika Fankha, Nikolaos Giannopoulos, Patrick Wally– “And they never looked back”

The performance delves into the experiences of two protagonists intertwined in a narrative exploring ghosting, haunting, and one’s transformation into a monster. It grapples with the realization of the inevitable and the necessity of confronting fear, both on and off-screen. Presented in two cinematic parts with intermissions, the audience is immersed in what is seen, heard, and felt, blurring the lines between reality and fiction for the characters and viewers alike. Confronting fear at its origin leads to the establishment of healthy boundaries, a crucial aspect for society.

<<<<All work-in-progress showings will be held at brut nordwest. The entrance is pay-as-you-can. Registration through the brut website.

<<<<More information about the artists you can find on our website.

<<<<Language: English

Handle with Care feat. Huggy Bears Part 1

Also this year, our Huggy Bears artists are part of the imagetanz festival by brut. On two occasions (Part 1+2), the series “Handle with Care” offers each artist/collective the possibility to launch their work-in-progress publicly in Vienna. Right after their sharings, we will engage in a Q&A to spark new ideas and inspirations. This way, the event can generate valuable insights for the further developments of the artists’ projects until their premiere in November 2024.

Come and join us to see what our Huggy Bears 2024 are up to:

Handle with Care PART 1 – 09.03 / 10.03, 16 -18h

Helena Araújo: “and it gets better”

and it gets better is a work-in- progress by Helena Araújo that inhabits spaces between dance, theatre and performance. Set on a fake beach, the research gives a warm spotlight to the mental health of artists in the performance art world. Using humour, disobedience and cabaret flamboyance elements Helena exposes the everlasting rocky pressures of the art market along with her anxieties. To survive the industry waves she also tries to find beachy coping mechanisms. and it gets better challenges the underrepresentation of mental health in the art world and addresses the impact of the art market on artists’ well-being.

Ale Bachlechner: “Crying and Lying”

Crying and lying are two activities with which you can reliably ruin your life. Strikingly, they are often associated with femininity. Tightly interlacing live performance and prerecorded video Ale admits publicly to her strong craving for a satisfying narrative and captivating dramaturgy of life. The concept of a hopefully quick, linear and progressive succession of milestones in your so called private life and career is countered by the figure of the queer late bloomer who hits those milestones late, in the wrong order or never.

<<<<All work-in-progress showings will be held at brut nordwest. The entrance is pay-as-you-can. Registration through the brut website.

<<<<More information about the artists you can find on our website.

<<<<Language: English

Huggy Bears at KOBO Art Space Zürich

Huggy Bears Days 2023

The Huggy Bears Days are coming up! From 26.11 to 28.11 at brut studio and from 29.11 to 30.11 at wuk.performing arts our mentoring program artists will celebrate their big opening nights. This year, we at Bears in the Park have had the pleasure of accompanying four very different, but all extremely exciting projects over a period of several months. The artists engage with diverse topics, from political activism/ apathy, consumption and decoloniality, gender fluidity and transformity. But all of them are united by a certain searching through our complex and often hard-to-digest time. Now we invite you to experience these distinct paths.

studio brut: Sunday, 26.11 – Tuesday, 28.11

19:00
Reverse Cowgirl β by Ariadne Randall
It’s a concert, it’s a nature documentary, it’s a piece about becoming who we want to be, and what we leave behind along the way. Our gender, for instance? It’s a way of asking what home means if they’d throw you in jail there for being who you are. Caution: includes sinful dancing and historical instruments. To ensure the highest performance quality, please exchange your identity with the Department of Performance Quality before experiencing the qualities of this performance.

20:30
Collective Action (a solo show) by Gudrun Schmidinger
Collective Action (a solo show) is a one-woman rally about the need to move past hyper individualism, towards solidarisation and communality. Inspired by podcast dudes, cottage core, affordable rent and real life magic, Gudrun Schmidinger is on a quest of defeating political apathy, taking the audience on a persona packed, banger blasting journey. After all, in these crisis ridden and tumultuous times, the world needs more… scratch cards.

WUK.performingarts: Wednesday, 29.11 + Thursday, 30.11

19:00
Elsewhere by The Needles (Nina Sandino, Daniela Hernandez, Andrea Vezga, Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir)
The precipices of one’s own wardrobe, the wild world of supply chains, the bizarre balance of power between global north and south: The performance collective The Needles enters the spheres of virtual fashion – a universe full of digital rituals and cyberpunk avatars, where cotton is a currency and indigo an elixir of life. Digital fashion is a continuation of social media filters on platforms such as Instagram or TikTok and a signifier of increasing alienation. But do technologies that merge our physical and digital realms really challenge our understanding of mutual care? The performance Elsewhere plays with our craving for instant rewards and the need for new and old rituals while at the same time exploring the history of forced labour in the neoliberal world order and its roots in colonialism.

20:30
Neither Fish Nor Meat by Jannis Neumann
The title is a literal English translation of the German saying ‘weder Fisch noch Fleisch’ referring, often with a condescending undertone, to someone or something that is hard to classify: half-baked, immature. As a hybrid being between human and seal, Jannis Neumann attempts to learn more about this zone of vagueness, constantly looking for nuances, tensions, and different perspectives. In Neither Fish Nor Meat, he presents an embodied dialogue with his own physicality, identity, upbringing as a queer child, and society’s ideas of masculinity. Ancient myths of beautiful but terrible Tritons, luring siren songs and seal-like selkies who can shed their pelt are interwoven with stereotyping, queer narratives, and stories of petroleum as a post-modern prosthesis for virility, thus creating a loose fabric negotiating fins and genitals, social norms and sexuality.

Tickets are available through the website of Wuk.performingarts and brut Wien.

About Bears in the Park and the Huggy Bears Mentoring Programme:

Since 2016, Huggy Bears has been a pillar of innovative performance art, supporting emerging artists in Vienna. Each year, the mentoring programme provides three or four individuals or collectives with comprehensive support in areas from production to administration, equipment and dramaturgy. In a series of different presentation formats as well as regular feedback sessions within the group, the young artists’ projects develop into very special pieces. At the end of the nine-month programme, the mentees get to present their performance projects for the first time on a big stage in Vienna. This year, the Huggy Bears Days will be held as a co-operation between brut Wien and WUK performing arts. The mentoring/supporting program “Huggy Bears” is funded by a program grant for the residencies from the BMKÖS and byStadt Wien MA7 as supporter of the initiative Bears in the Park. You may learn more about the program, here.

Close-Up Showing 8. November

On November 8th we are hosting two fantastic artists with work-in progress-showings. Imani Rameses and Lucia Rosenfeld are Vienna-based artists who are supported by our Close-Up Research Residency. They have been working in our studios on their current projects First Person Plural and because cracks tell stories. Now they are invitin the public ato their work-in-progress  showings on November 8th from 6pm. After each showing there will be a short feedback-session with the audience. There is no entrance fee, only bring curiosity.

First Person Plural

In her solo piece, First Person Plural, Imani Rameses takes a much too-long look at herself in the mirror inducing self-binding spells, recursive self-analysis, and unleashing neverending cascades of dichotomies. To get out of this absurd loop of looking, she invites you to journey with her into the mirrored images as she visits and revisits what one calls “one self”. Together, (you and me, she and them) we will attempt to contradict the polarties that prevent us from embracing the multiplicity of selves. First Person Plural is (you and I, her and they) our first attempt to enter a state of syzygy, the alignment of three celestial bodies.

because cracks tell stories

in-between-images appear that tell

stories of the past and the present

weaving through

a landscape of memories

.. ……. …… …… …. ….

……. .. … …. … … …….

……. …….

. ……… .. ……..

choreography and performance: lucia rosenfeld

dramaturgy and choreographic assistance: sebastian bechinger

thanks to: bears in the park, fabian faltin, laurent ziegler

OPEN CALL 2024: Huggy Bears Supporting Program

Bears in the Park is looking for innovative Vienna-based artists and collectives who want to join the next round of the “Huggy Bears Supporting Program”. The program is designed for upcoming artists who are either already working in the performance art scene and/or dance or are motivated to enlarge their previous practice with performance art. This way a special transdisciplinary learning atmosphere is created which enables a shared knowledge transfer. The project runs from spring till autumn 2024. During this time participants get project support that involves administrative, technical, financial and artistic help. An intensive learning environment is created through regular feedback sessions within the group and with the leaders of Bears in the Park. Along the road the selected Huggy Bears will show and foster their working process on different occasions. Showings at e.g.“Handle with Care” by brut Wien and collaborations with WUK and ImPulsTanz are part of the program.

Aim of the Huggy Bears Supporting Program

At the end of the program stands the big premiere of each project on one of the established stages for performance art in Vienna (This year’s Huggy Bears are performing from 26th – 30th November at studio brut and WUK.performing arts). From research to rehearsal, from rehearsals to showings, and finally to the premieres, the different phases of creation are met with care, curiosity, and professional advice. Every year 3 to 4 projects (single artists or collectives) will be selected to join this journey. The aim is to place the selected participants on the artistic map of Vienna and to support the first connection points with the audience and other professional players in town. The program is run by Philippe Riéra and Charlotte Bastam.

The Supporting Program contains*

-Monthly group meetings with the staff of Bears in the Park and the other Huggy Bear participants.

– Dramaturgy and coaching support anytime.

– Sharing/showing opportunities along the way such as „Handle with Care“ in collaboration with brut Wien.

– Facilitated and prioritized access to our studios over the whole 7-8 months (Our studios are accessible 24/7).**

– Getting in touch with a wider network of the performance art scene in Vienna and further.

– Several exclusive workshops in the fields of production, outreach, sound, video, and light taking place in a fully equipped theater.

– A week-long residency over summer in a fully equipped theater.

– Administrative and financial support (In the last years our Huggy Bear artists have been supported by BMKÖS).

*Changes in the program structure are always possible, since our funding needs to be secured every year as well as cooporations with our partners. Yet this also means things can come on top!

**At the moment we find ourselves handling some changes. We will need to leave our current studios until the end of 2023 and a new option is still pending. We do our best to provide studios until March 2024, however more will be announced in the next months.

Who can apply?

We are open to transdisciplinary artists, scholars, and other creative minds dealing with time-based artforms. However, we are an institution for performance art. A strong base in performance is therefore necessary for completing the project with us. After all, the goal of the Supporting program is to bring your project on stage. Applications that are thought through with these circumstances and goals in mind will be prioritized. Furthermore, a connection to Vienna is important since our aim is to bring fresh wind to the Viennese performance art scene. Please note, if you are not based in Vienna, it will be difficult to organize the project with you since the monthly feedback sessions, studio time slots and other points of the program need your physical presence. We also encourage projects interested in reaching out into different Viennese communities and (public) spaces.

How to apply

For the application it is necessary that applicants line out an idea of what and how they want to make use of their time with the mentoring program and what kind of project they would like to bring to a stage in autumn 2024. Ideally, this should not only involve the content of the project but also an idea of how to realize it. For the first round we ask you to send in:

-a CV and an artist bio of every team member -a short description of your project (1 A4 max.)

-relevant material (photos, links to videos etc.) of your (previous and work-in-progress) work

-a letter of motivation (please, state here why you  would like to join the supporting program, and how you imagine to make use of what the program and the space can offer you)

-please, send us the application in one pdf document and label it with your (group) name.

All of the application materials need to be sent in one pdf file to charlotte[at]bearsinthepark.org by the 19th of November 2023.  Please note, that we are a program that mainly functions in English. So also send us the application in English. Successful candidates will then be invited for a personal interview in December (presumably interviews will take place between 11th and 19th of December). The selected Huggy Bears will be announced in the beginning of January 2024.

Otto Wagner Wandering Wonders

We had a fantastic time at Otto Wagner’s Wandering Wonders on Sunday, 08. October. It was wonderful that so many people came around, although autumn came tumbling in with rain and wind. The curation and dramaturgy for this event was undertaken by Philippe Riéra from Bears in the Park. A big thank you goes out to beamy.space and Jürgen Weißhäupl for producing and organizing this great event.

And of course our gratitude goes out to all the great artists making this evening very special!

Artists at Otto Wagner Wandering Wonders

Dance performance by Maria Mercedes @mariamercedes_______

DJ Malenciaga @malikafankha,

Fashion performance by @sebasgec & @bugaric_

Literature performance by Fabian Faltin @rederei_scharnstein

Stunts & Pompoms by @fearleaders_vienna,

Hip Hop and R’nB concert by Bex @bex.terslab

Photos by @eselat

This event was supported by Stadt Wien and BMKÖS

8. October: Otto Wagner Wandering Wonders

Together with unique Viennese and international artists, the dramaturge and curator Philippe Riéra explores the multifaceted world of Otto Wagner. He created an outdoor parcours with different stations from dance, performance, music, concert, fashion and more and thus integrates the audience into a work of art in the Otto Wagner Areal. The event is produced by beamy.space: Kulturevents im Otto Wagner Areal under the direction of Jürgen Weishäupl.

Program:

16h: DJ Malenciaga+ Aperitiv – Pavillon 18
18h: Performance: Otto Wagner’s Wandering Wonders

Maria Mercedes – Dance

Maria Mercedes are a duo around Julia Maria Müllner and Camilla Mercedes Schielin. They are both living and working in Vienna. In their work, they encounter pop-culture-inspired choreographies and transpose them into bizarre settings. Their interest lies in fluctuating encounters between audience and performance at various locations, including rooftops, corridors, storage rooms, gardens or on stages.

Sebastijan Geč/Goran Bugaric – Fashion-Performance

Sebastian Geč will perform a unique fashion performance together with Goran Bugaric in the course of Otto Wangers Wandering Wonders. The custom designer Goran Bugaric, runs his own label BUGARIC since October 2012 in the “Schnittbogen”, in one of Vienna’s subway arches near Gumpendorfergürtel.

Fearleaders Vienna – Stunts & Pompoms

We are the male and non-binary fearleading squad of Vienna Roller Derby. With our beauty, grace and delicate style we bring joy and pleasure to the world of Roller Derby and beyond whilst tangling gender stereotypes when we hit the dancefloor. As Fearleaders Vienna we support gender diversity and emancipation. We subvert gender stereotypes by turning them upside down and expose ridiculous and in the same way toxic masculine behavior with overstatement and irony. Cheer diversity, fear nothing (but heteronormativity, bigotry and a lack of humor).

Fabian Faltin – Literature-Performance

Fabian Faltin is known for his performances, novels and as a gardener. His major works have been shown at Festival der Regionen, London National Theatre, brut, WUK, Beijing Fringe, Bears in the Park, and many more. He teaches writing and public speaking at Bruckner University Linz, and is currently running a speaker’s agency for Bad Ischl Salzkammergut 2024 – European Capital of Culture.

Bex – Hip Hop, R’n’B concert

BEX is a Ghanaian-born, up-and-coming artist from Vienna. Her path to music was rather unconventional, but that’s what makes her journey so eclectic. In 2021, she started working on her sound. From then on, she has paired her confidence and skills with the right amount of explicit content to allow her listeners to take a break from their reality to escape into her fantasy. Within a very short period of time, the young artist has created her own space to blossom. Vital were features on W1ZE’s EP “Down Low,” and on the Nono Punch-produced track “Bounce,” which entered Vienna’s FM4 charts and made it clear that BEX is one to watch in the coming years.

At Otto-Wagner-Areal, Baumgartner Höhe 1 Vienna
Pavilion 18

To get there by public transport take busline 47A, 48A until Penzing Klinik.

Entry is free!