Join us backstage for installations and photographic art!

I asked eight dancers I've worked with for many years if they would agree to be digitally scanned naked in three dimensions, printed life-sized and their printed bodies publicly exhibited. They all agreed and they are: Lorraine Blouin, Cora Kroese, Valentina Scaglia, Shirley Esseboom, David Krügel, Ken Ossola, Stefan Żeromski and Michael Schumacher. I've always been fascinated not only by movement and stillness but also by the question whether we are inside or outside of a space. That's why my sculptures are partly inside and partly outside. I began working on this project in October 2021, in the middle of the pandemic when we were not allowed to move anywhere – this is how I came to the name of this installation, Moving Still. They are sculptures of real dancers cut in half, flying between being and non-being and their bodies carry the scars of life. But that wasn't the only source of my inspiration. Many years ago I was deeply impressed by the "statues" of people who died in Pompeii after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. They perished 1946 years ago, but we are still deeply moved by their immobility...

For Oslo, I decided to print the statues on a larger scale in order to do justice to the monumental façade of the Oslo Opera House. Together with the architect of the Oslo Opera House, Kjetil Thorsen (co-founder of the architectural firm 'Snøhetta') we decided to print the dancers' bodies in a size of 138%. I also adapted and rearranged the positioning of the larger statues to suit the proportions of the glass façade of the Opera House. This particular Moving Still will have a new première in Oslo as a part of the Kylián Festival, Wings of Time, starting on May 29, 2025. I cannot imagine a more beautiful place and space for this installation.

Ensō means 'circle' in Japanese and it is an ancient Zen Buddhist symbol. Usually the circle is unfinished because it is made by a human being who is still alive. Every Ensō is an imperfect circle symbolizing one imperfect moment in the life of the person who created it. But in fact it is a perfect representation of that particular imperfect moment in the life of its creator. The image must never be retouched because it is a witness of a very specific moment which will never come back.
What I am writing is just a simple explanation what Ensō is but its spiritual and philosophical meaning is endlessly complex and infinitely deep.
Since some time I am working on a design for a large installation in which Ensō is accompanied by a mirror hovering and slowly revolving in its center. 
It has a simple mirror on one side and a black mirror on the other. It turns in a counter-clockwise direction. The entire space will be illuminated by one single powerful lamp creating a sharp expanding and shrinking shadow and strong reflection moving around in circles. This installation will be accompanied by the music "Mirror in mirror" composed by Arvo Pärt.

Motionless photos - artificially constructed emotional state, puzzles and labyrinths - Art and artificiality. Two words with the same root, but totally opposite in their meaning. Why this installation? It is my way of dealing with the tension between reality and imagination. And it is my attempt to stop the time for a fraction of a second, and take time to look at it all quietly....
Performing artists are trained to reproduce an emotional state in an instant. A photographic image is a guillotine, separating us from the past and the future, and at the same time bringing both back together in the moment of exposure. The result is "frozen choreography". These images of this motionless theatre will survive the performer and its creator for many years to come...
Sabine is photographed simultaneously from the front and from the back. Torn apart by what was and what will be...!?
I made these images because I am fascinated by Sabine's gift to change with the years, and by her ability to express her ever changing emotional state. It is another step in our creative relationship. Another step of going up or going down, holding on, and letting go.

Moving Still 

Installation concept by Jiří Kylián 
Artistic Assistance Patrick Marin 
Models Cora Bos Kroese, Shirley Esseboom, Lorraine Blouin, Valentina Scaglia, Ken Ossola, Michael Schumacher, David Krügel, Stefan Zeromski 
Management & organization Kylian Productions BV   

Original concept Première - June 26, 2024, Vaclav Havel Square, Prague, Czech Republic 
Initiator Kateřina Hanáčková 
Producers Balet Národniho Divadla Praha & Kylian Productions BV  

World Premiere Oslo – a fully adapted concept and arrangement:
3D scan & overall supervision Erwin Kanters – Miniyours / 3D Scan Solutions 
3D printing Niels Hunck – 3D Printing Prototypes 
Sanding and painting of sculptures Tom van Iperen, Mijndert Stasse, Jurgen Stasse – Iperen Autoschade
Technical Assistant “Maquette” Alex Morel  
Produced by the National Norwegian Opera & Ballet in Oslo – Svein Olav Østerbø and Helle Sørbye Larsen 
In collaboration with Snøhetta – Kjetil Thorsen and Rune Grasdal
World Première May 29, 2025, Oslo Opera House, façade  

Free Fall 

A Photographic Study by Jiří Kylián
Free Fall is a production produced by Kylian Productions BV & facilitated by Korzo Theatre
Images and full concept by Jiří Kylián 
Artist Sabine Kupferberg (and her duplicate)
Music J.S. Bach, Kunst der Fuge, Kontrapunktus 1, Glenn Gould (piano)
Photography Joris Jan Bos
Artistic Assistant Patrick Marin
Light design & technical supervision Loes Schakenbos 
Technical assistance Davy den Dulk
Make-up artist (photos) Sara Meerman
Printing production Bootsma Technologies BV
World Première May 7, 2016 – Korzo Theater, The Hague, the Netherlands
Norwegian Première May 29, 2025, Oslo Opera House, Backstage

Ensō    

Installation concept by Jiří Kylián   
Music Arvo Pärt, “Spiegel im Spiegel”  
recording by Victoria Mullova (violin) and Matthew Barley (Cello)  
Created by The National Norwegian Opera Ballet in Oslo together with Jiří Kylián   
Produced by the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo – by Svein Olav Østerbø and Helle Sørbye Larsen  
Enso painting realized by the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo – by Justinus Van Vliet, Turid J. Ousland, Liva Victoria Wagner Hinnerfeldt and Helene Dorothea Sunde 
World Première May 29, 2025, Oslo Opera House, Backstage

Moving On 

Installation concept Jiří Kylián  
Music Nils Petter Molvær (new music composition)
Produced by the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet in Oslo – by Svein Olav Østerbø and Helle Sørbye Larsen
World Première May 29, 2025, Oslo Opera House, Backstage