Trajal Harrell

Kunsthalle Zürich, in collaboration with Schauspielhaus Zürich, presents three projects by pioneering American dancer and choreographer Trajal Harrell: Deathbed (2022), a work for multiple performers, Dancer of the Year (2018), a solo danced by Harrell, and the installation Dancer of The Year Shop #4 (2022). 

Three years ago, Schauspielhaus Zürich and American dancer and choreographer Trajal Harrell approached the Kunsthalle Zürich to ask whether we could conceive of a collaboration. Why were they interested? And how might this be of interest to us? It soon turned out that we often talk about the same thing, but mean something different—and vice versa. Although we are active in the same field—visual performative culture—suddenly significant differences, which make a difference, emerged. An institution like Kunsthalle Zürich, for example, welcomes visitors every day; they can come and go as they please, they are allowed to discuss what they see while in the space, to make noise and move around freely. A theatre such as the Schauspielhaus Zürich is unlike this: doors open in the evening at a specific time, punctuality is required, the audience sits and should not converse, cough or move. All this, of course, has a variety of effects on production, organisation and mediation. But this is precisely what interests Trajal Harrell, just as he is interested in the history and conventions of various dance forms, from voguing to postmodern dance to butoh. In the differences between forms Harrell discovers artistic as well as socio-political potential; by focusing on these details and challenging them, he can break away from cliché and preconceived ideas. In one of many conversations during the lead up to this project, he described how he is sceptical of stage design, lighting, production and indeed the stage in general. He is fundamentally skeptical of the separation of auditorium and performance space. Accordingly, the audience of Deathbed, the work to premiere at Kunsthalle Zürich, will be seated on the dance floor at least spatially on a par with the dancers—and they will be able to, have to, and be encouraged to move. In this way, Harrell connects the operating modes of two institutions that are taken as given and fixed. At first glance, this may seem a detail, a formal gimmick (who cares?), but the world can change when unquestioned structures are challenged. Harrell’s art is thus transgressive, created by analysing, absorbing and then reshaping the vocabulary of a tradition. In doing so, his pieces transcend established perspectives and equally gender boundaries, race and class differences, and build bridges between institutions, spaces and people that usually have little or no contact. Take the distinct audiences of the Kunsthalle Zurich and the Schauspielhaus! In a time in which we are encouraged to “curate” our identities through demarcation and rejection, this transgression is more important than ever.

Trajal Harrell, born in Douglas, Georgia (US) in 1973, lives and works in Athens and Zürich.

Deathbed (2022): Friday, March 4, 2022 (world premiere), March 5, March 6, March 11, March 12, March 13, March 17, March 18, March 19, March 23, March 24, and March 25. Tickets via Schauspielhaus Zürich.

Dancer of the Year (2018), a solo work by Trajal Harrell: March 10, March 16, March 22, March 26, and March 31, 2022. Tickets via Schauspielhaus Zürich.

Dancer of The Year Shop #4 (2022) is on show during normal Kunsthalle Zürich opening times, daily except Mondays from 11am–6pm, Thursdays until 8pm. From 2-6pm each day two performers will be shop salespeople, presenting the wares to customers.