Eszter Salamon: MONUMENT 0

MONUMENT 0: Haunted by Wars (1913–2013) is the first part of a series that engages with the relationship between choreography and history. From today’s perspective, Salamon looks back over 100 years of dance, art, and world history that she interprets as a global history of war. With the help of tribal and folk dance as well as contemporary popular dance forms from all five continents, she makes an attempt to develop an alternative narrative to official historiography.

Together with her six performers, she studied dozens of dances of various backgrounds that only have one thing in common. They were all practiced in regions and cultures that are shaped by invasion or conflicts. Chronologically sorted, from the First World War until the most recent past, Salamon’s dance of death moves through 100 years of war history, presenting a dark and yet surreal scenario, a gaze on a mass grave from which figures, physical states, and rituals rise that counter the horror with their spiritual vitality. The spectators can only suspect where they come from, and yet they are challenged to pursue a trail of speculations and fictional world contexts. 

The works of Hungarian choreographer and performer Eszter Salamon have been shown at many festivals and important institutions around the world,. At the start of this year, she was featured at New York’s MoMA. In the program of PACT Zollverein, Salamon is also a regular guest; her new group piece can be experienced at this year’s Ruhrtriennale at the Waschkaue.