Alexandra Bachzetsis – PRIVATE SONG

In Private Song – developed for documenta 14 and premiered in Athens and Kassel – Swiss choreographer Alexandra Bachzetsis draws on seemingly heterogeneous sources: She confronts the pathos and codified gestures of popular Greek rembetiko songs with wrestling, Hollywood gender stereotypes, and the visual history of love and war. Art, as French philosopher Jacques Derrida suggests, depends on its frame: This defines what can be seen. In her piece Private Song, Alexandra Bachzetsis proposes “framing” as a perceptual strategy to interrogate, emphasize, or neutralize the relationship between the audience and the bodies on stage.

Supported by Schering Stiftung and Stichting Ammodo.

A cooperative funding agreement with: Stadt Zürich, Kanton Basel-Landschaft, Kanton Basel-Stadt, Pro Helvetia-Schweizer Kulturstiftung. Co-produced with Volksbühne Berlin, Frans Hals Museum | De Hallen Haarlem.

Special Thanks to Adam Szymczyk, Paul B. Preciado, Hendrik Folkerts, Christoph Platz, Shannon Jackson, Mia Born, Oleg Houbrechts, Otobong Nkanga, Daphni Antoniou, Kelly Tsipni-Kolaza, Lenio Kaklea, Evangelia Karakatsani, Verena Bachzetsis, Jannis Tsingaris, Sakis Bachzetsis.