"hansi and me actually questions the values, wishes and aims of my artistic work.
In how far does art want to please in order to be successful?"

Doris Stelzer, choreographer, provides a performative insight in her artistic research on the Austrian Schlagerstar Hansi. Schlagersongs and folksy music versus contemporary dance, entertainment versus concept?

By diving into Hansi’s world through visiting concerts, hiking along with fans and a detailed analysis of his staging strategies, as well as pop cultural and ethnological theories on the other hand, Doris, driven by her artistic curiosity, oscillates between the poles of fascination and desperation. In her attempt to understand the phenomenon Hansi, it quickly became clear that she also has to question her own position as an contemporary artist.

„Confronted with my own preconceptions I found myself in wired positions. I couldn’t stay outside in the observer role, I couldn’t let myself be identified as a Hansi fan neither, although I found myself swaying and singing along with his songs…”

hansi and me is a wandering and constantly extending examination. The more distance Doris creates to the topic, the more urgent the questions seem to become.

Initially hansi and me was presented in the frame of the interdisciplinarian postgraduate course in artistic research a.pass (advanced performance and scenography training) in Belgium in January 2012.

by and with Doris Stelzer
Feedback Version WUK Frans Poelstra Feedback MAK Johanna Tatzgern
Thanks to a.pass, BMUKK, Christina Lammer, nadaLokal, Katja Stecher, ttp WUK, WUK Theater/Tanz
Photo Doris Stelzer, fan hiking tour Kitzbühel August 2011

Presentations:

nadaLokal focusing on: mass entertainment versus/and contemporary art, dialogue partner Daniel Aschwanden
Wednesday May 21, 2014, 8pm
www.nadalokal.at
www.facebook.com/nadaLokal

MAK in the frame of the exhibition Out of the Box - 10 Questions about Artistic Research
December 17, 2013
www.thinkoutofthebox.at
www.mak.at

WUK Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus
, Vienna
May 10, 2012 8pm
Mother´s Day - Special May 13, 2012 8pm
www.wuk.at