Sitzen ist eine gute Idee

In 2016, Antje Pfundtner started a trilogy in Gesellschaft about the laws of time and transience. Her leitmotif was Albrecht Dürer’s copperplate figure “MELENCOLIA I”, an angel-like figure crouching near the ground with its knees drawn up. Despite her wings, this figure does not take off. Everything is at rest: Movement, motives, work, time – they stand still. Her inaction confuses: for is she already doing nothing, or has she not even begun to do anything? What would be the beginning or the end of her action if she were not standing still?

The solo “Sitting is a good idea”, which takes place in the midst of the audience, is the last part of the trilogy and questions aloud what potential for action motionlessness has. For example, does sitting necessarily mean staying seated? Sitting versus standing up, standing up versus being stood up. Is standing up a more powerful act than sitting down? The connotations of standing up are: To rise – to go vertical – to act – to rehearse the uprising. Gladly, but with whom? In any case, standing up is far too short a moment to celebrate it so strongly. Because standing up is, for the time being, only the duration of its movement. And then follows action.

Back to MELENCOLIA alias Antje Pfundtner: Yes, she takes her time and thinks carefully about whether she will sit down again in the end or whether she will resist much more.

“Hamburg’s outstanding choreographer inspires on her solo evening – even when everyone has long since left the auditorium. It is done. Hamburg’s outstanding choreographer Antje Pfundtner has completed her three-year trilogy on time and transience. Sitzen ist eine gute Idee’, her solo dance evening at Kampnagel, is probably her most radical work to date after ‘Ende’ and ‘Alles auf Anfang’. In a fraction of a second, she switches there between courageous, deeply sad, silly, weird – and sometimes she is all of these at the same time. (…). An announcement is always followed by the unexpected. It is a dance evening of volte-face and craziness. (…). Antje Pfundtner captivates her audience at all times – with graceful movements but also with clever words. (…). Ultimately, the evening raises philosophical questions about time and transience. With holy seriousness Pfundtner breaks every sentimentality. (…). And when Pfundtner continues as a stand-up man at the end until the last guest has left the hall, it is the furious finale of a harmonious evening.” Annette Stiekele/ Hamburger Abendblatt