In The Past, Constanza Macras explores the art of memory, or ars memoriae, in which memories are particularly strongly associated with physical locations, rooms and architecture.  Created with the collaboration of Swiss-Italian music composer Oscar Bianchi, who composed the music, the starting point for this piece was the city as a concrete geographical location, as an anchor for memory, a mental picture and a cast of mind. What happens with our memories, what happens to those who are remembering when these physical places are destroyed? The actions of the performers on stage refer to the ancient techniques of ars memoriae, whereby in order to recall the thing to be remembered, we first have to find and organize our impressions. At the heart of this mnemonic technique is spatial orientation. How do we use rooms and places to remember? The Past explores architectonic places as narrative instruments of our history – in the rewriting of history, for overcoming the wounds of the past, and for understanding contemporary events (personal and global) as part of a constant cycle that we experience as the passing of time.

Duration: 105 min.

A production by CONSTANZA MACRAS | DorkyPark and HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts Dresden in coproduction with Schaubühne Berlin. Funded by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes through the Doppelpass program with the support of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia