Performance

Performer Damian Rebgetz, known for his work at HAU, Volksbühne and Schaubühne, presents the musical theatre performance ‘The Ghost of the Sensuous Physician’ together with musician and artist Anton Spielmann. It takes place in the lecture hall ruin of the museum, where Rudolf Virchow taught his students the fundamentals of science-based medicine. Destroyed during the Second World War, only the ruins remain today, which serve as a resonance chamber for Damian Rebgetz.

The performance is inspired by the dramatically titled essay ‘The Death of the Sensuous Chemist’ by science historian Lissa Roberts. She describes the transformation of chemistry from a physical, artisanal and sensual practice to a technologised science based on instruments and precision measurement. Building on this, Rebgetz attempts in his performance to conjure up the spirits of a sensually experiential medical history (patients and doctors alike).

This creates a surreal scene. The performance begins with a solo by Damian Rebgetz. In a ghostly apparition, he wanders through the audience, combining fragments of reinterpreted pop songs and fragments from Lissa Roberts' essay with piano arrangements by Paul Hankinson inspired by Schumann, Bach, Mozart and Ravel, seemingly dissolving time and space. This culminates in the monstrous appearance of Anton Spielmann. In this special atmosphere, the boundaries between performer and audience, music, light and space, history and the present become blurred.

The revival was supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.

Credits

Concept: Damian Rebgetz

Based on the essay ‘The Death of the Sensuous Chemist’ by Lissa Roberts

Performers: Damian Rebgetz, Anton Spielmann

Dramaturgy: Jessica Paez

Outside Eye: Simon Will

Laser Design: Hilmar Dittrich

Lighting: Nile Koetting

Sound: Torsten Schwarzbach

Artistic Production: Nicole Schuchardt