Lesezeit: ca. 5 Minuten

Before, after, and everything in between – in UNSEEN, the audience finds itself in an in-between world: movement, sensation, and presence merge; quietly and almost imperceptibly, transformation begins to unfold. The performers move through shifting rhythms and subtle gestures in which certainty dissolves and new possibilities emerge. Viktor Szeri’s latest work is an immersive exploration of that moment just before form takes shape.

In the following conversation, we speak about artistic processes in states of transition, collective creation, and the potential that lies within uncertainty – when a work is still unfolding and its final form remains unseen.

In unseen, you explore a fluid state before something takes shape, a moment in which certainties dissolve and new possibilities emerge.
What draws you to bringing this “not-yet” moment to the stage?

Viktor Szeri: Recently I have been experiencing many moments in my own life that feel like being between two states. Moving to Austria, learning how things work here, dealing with new systems and bureaucracy, all of this placed me in a situation where I already have experience and knowledge but I still don’t fully know how things will unfold. This feeling of standing between something familiar and something not yet formed became very inspiring for the piece.

With unseen I’m interested in bringing this transitional state to the stage, the fragile moment before something takes shape. At the same time I also recognise many patterns from my previous works that still interest me: certain movement qualities, the way I build dramaturgy and the methods I use in the studio. In a way unseen gathers many of the questions that have accompanied me in the past few years. What interests me now is how all these elements will come together within this piece in a new environment, with new people and what kind of form they will eventually create in unseen.

 

In unseen, immersion is created not only through proximity, but through the interplay of space, sound, light, and bodies.
How do you conceive of immersion within the spatial setting – what tools generate this experience, and what is the aim of this intense presence?

Viktor Szeri: In my work, preparation is usually very important. I tend to develop many elements in advance. However, with unseen I wanted to leave more things open and make decisions together in the studio during rehearsals with the performers and the musician.

In my previous works, such as Fatigue and I Quit Ordinary Dancing, visuality has always played a crucial role. I try to create environments in the theatre where the final performance could not exist in the same way without all of its elements. For example, the piece would not work without the lighting. During the creative process, everything develops together in my mind: space, sound, light, and movement influence each other.

In unseen the audience will sit on four sides of the space, which creates a particular relationship between performers and spectators. I am very interested in the situation that emerges in this shared space: what kind of responsibility exists between the performer and the spectator? Who holds which role? I want to reveal the fragility of these roles and question how the “magic” of theatre actually happens. Does it even have to happen? 

Is it our responsibility as performers to entertain or to give something to the audience, or is the experience something we create together? With unseen, I want to create a situation where we can work through these questions.

Through themes of transition, uncertainty and transformation, and by questioning our own roles I try in my performances to explore what art can offer beyond cultural consumption.

 

Are there themes, materials, or questions from your earlier works – such as Fatigue – that you continue to explore in unseen?
Or does this piece mark a new point of departure for you?

Viktor Szeri: I’m very interested in processes and I like to think about my work as a continuity. I don’t feel that every new piece has to be a completely new beginning. In the art world there is often an expectation that artists should constantly come up with new ideas and reinvent themselves. The funding system can sometimes reinforce this logic as well. Certain topics or artistic approaches can become more visible or urgent at a given moment and naturally these receive more attention and support. While this can open important conversations, it can also create a situation where artists feel encouraged to constantly respond to trends rather than follow their own long-term interests.

Of course, I am always looking for unfamiliar situations and things that challenge me. But I also believe it is valuable to return to certain questions, practices or materials and continue exploring them over time. If I go back to something I have already worked with it usually means that I feel there is still more to discover there. For me this return is not accidental but rather an invitation to dig deeper.

With Fatigue, my name and my work became more visible internationally. At the same time, this visibility also brought a certain pressure. Recently I have been trying to shift my attention back to my intuition and to the questions that genuinely interest me.

During the creation of unseen, I spend a lot of time experimenting with different approaches in the studio. Some of the tasks are familiar to me from earlier works like Outsiders or Pleasure, while others lead us into completely new territories. I try to stay attentive to what slowly emerges in the room and to the directions that begin to shape the work through the process.

At the same time, I also find myself thinking about the expectations around performance. Do we always need to create something that feels safe that people immediately enjoy or that simply entertains? Is there space for uncertainty or even for failure? With unseen, I am interested in staying with these questions during the process and allowing myself to take the risk of not fully knowing what the outcome will be.



unseen is your first work funded in Vienna, and you deliberately chose to collaborate with performers you hadn’t worked with before.
Can you speak about how the selection and rehearsal process may itself have become an immersive experience, a state of uncertainty, risk, and collective unfolding in which new potentials could emerge?

It was not the first time I worked with people I didn’t know before, but since I am new in Vienna I wanted to connect with the local dance community. I organised an open call for Vienna based dancers and received around 270 applications. Through this process I met many interesting artists and eventually selected the cast: Martina de Dominicis, Imre Vass, Sasha Portyannikova and myself. I invited Imre from Hungary, as we had collaborated before and I felt his presence could bring a different dynamic to the group. The musician of unseen is Rozi Mákó, with whom I have collaborated several times in the past and I love her work. 

In the studio I try to keep the structure quite open. Instead of bringing finished material, I propose situations, tasks, or questions and observe how each performer engages with them. I’m curious about what drives someone to continue, what happens when attention or interest fades, and how we keep going anyway. The group strongly influences the direction of the piece and this shared exploration becomes an important part of how the work develops.

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