Sudden Starlings Collective

Sudden Starlings is a collective based in Berlin-Brandenburg and founded by Eva Burghardt, Elma Riza, Susanne Soldan.

Our research as a collective is articulated around the notions of Instant Composition and public space. We explore these two themes through movement and video, in relation to places, their histories, their architecture…

We worked together from 2014 to 2018. First in the improvisation lab “Impro LAB” with Mireia Aragones, Florian Knoblich, Naïma Ferré, Ula Korn, Philippe Caspari, Michi Muchina, at Kunshthaus Bethanien (Berlin). Then as curators of improvisation performance evenings, IMPREVU# (2015-2017). And in 2016 we started a research in public space with other dancers and performers.

After having made our own artistic experiences separately, we met again in 2021 for a video project by Eva Burghardt, “Ausser Ort” (2021), which approached the site of the Vulkanfiberfabrik in Werder (Havel) through dance.
In the summer of 2022, we collaborated on a video “GRUNDstück” during a two-week residency at DiR – Dance in Residence Brandenburg in Potsdam and decided to create our collective and continue our collaboration.

Susanne Soldan (*1986 / D) is a dance & performance artist with an urban focus.

Eva Burghardt (*1982 / D) is a freelance dancer, choreographer & lecturer in dance & performance.

Elma Riza (*1986 / F-TN) is a multidisciplinary artist, performer & video artist.

PRODUCTIONS

GRUNDstück
2022, Potsdam

Format Video 4K _ 16:9
Dauer: 13:07min

GRUNDstück by Eva Burghardt, Elma Riza & Susanne Soldan – in cooperation with Fabrik moves and DiR – Dance in Residence Brandenburg

Referring to the title of the exhibition FIGUR-GRUND 2 at Kunstverein KunstHaus Potsdam, Eva Burghardt, Elma Riza & Susanne Soldan open up the urban-public space of the city in a dance-filmic way and thereby move the moving FIGURE as an urban design parameter into the foreground and/or background. In the play of the city, the dancing body relates to the surrounding architecture and thus complements the urban choreography through its presence or points to its absence.

GRUNDStück illuminates how dance can be made visible (in) the city and questions, as it were, who or what becomes visible in the cityscape, when and in what way.
The video work was created as part of the two-week residency DiR-DANCE IN RESIDENCE BRANDENBURG.

AUSSER ORT

Site specific Video _ Vulkanfiberfabrik Werder
A collaboration with Eva Burghardt, Mireia Aragones, Susanne Soldan, Florian Knoblich 9min36 / Full HD _ 16:9
2021

Ausser Ort is a site-specific dance film in which 4 dancers* enter into a moving dialogue with the site of the Vulkanfiberfabrik in Werder (Havel). This urban and yet abandoned place, marked by the change of time, serves as a space of inspiration and action for the dance exploration.


Many places in Brandenburg are neglected, sometimes they are made usable again as cultural spaces. But the transformation of the urban landscape is omnipresent in our everyday lives. And this project is a way to revive a place whose creative potential is enormous.


With the kind support of the Microgrant III from the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg.