Handa Gote Research & Development

Since 2005, Handa Gote Research & Development has worked on the boundaries between theatre, contemporary dance, the visual arts, music, performance and conceptual art. The ensemble is interested in the concept of post-dramatic and post-spectacular theatre, nonlinear narratives, and the application of experiences from contemporary music and visual arts within theatre. Its performances involve the creative use of technology – both old technology and the most modern available. In most of its projects, the ensemble works with media archeology; its documentary theatre works intensively focus on “small (personal) histories”.

Over the years, the ensemble has created numerous works, including the loose trilogy "Memory", consisting of the performances "Computer Music", "Ekran", and "Trains". Other thematically related performances include "Mr. Roman and Clouds". Nearly all of Handa Gote’s performances relate in some way to death, memory, and forgotten or disappearing things, phenomena, and habits. In this regard, Handa Gote’s dramaturgy is absolutely consistent, and the ensemble plans to focus on these subjects in the future as well.

Besides theatre, Handa Gote Research & Development is also involved in music: actively through the post-Krautrock band B4 and the Federsel and Radio Royal electronic projects (which work with media archeology and recycling), and passively or organizationally through the Wakushoppu project, which provides a platform for the contemporary Czech improvised music scene. The ensemble is influenced primarily by the work and thinking of John Cage, which is also related to its inspiration in Eastern philosophy, in particular the Japanese aesthetic concepts of "wabi-sabi" and "mono no aware". Other sources of inspiration include the artistic visionaries Joseph Beuys and Marcel Duchamp, as well as other cross-genre contemporary artists such as audio artist Gordon Monahan and Swiss visual artist Roman Signer. In terms of contemporary theatre, Handa Gote appreciates in particular ensembles whose experimental work has helped to shift the boundaries of theatre in a new direction: Rimini Protokoll, Forced Entertainment, Goat Island, and Russia’s AkhE ensemble.

Handa Gote Research & Development has presented its performances at various festivals and public events, including the Prague Writers’ Festival, the grand opening of the Railroad Kingdom exhibition, Design Match, Design Blok, the Prague Quadrennial, and various opening receptions. They have also appeared at numerous festivals at home and abroad, such as Unidram, Fusion, Łódzkie Spotkania Teatralne, Strings of Autumn, Malá inventura, Divadelní Flora, IF Theatre, Pilsen, Off Europa, KammerMachen, Four Days in Motion, Festival L1, PAMS Seoul, ITF Varna Summer, Schlachthaus Theater Bern.

The band B4 has become a part of Handa Gote’s projects. The band collaborates on the music and is usually present on stage during performances. Each member of the performing ensemble is technician, musician, actor, and performer all at once. Everyone does everything. B4 is: Leoš Kropáček, David Freudl and Tomáš Procházka alias Federsel. B4 has released several albums on the Polí5 label in recent years: "Ringo John Paul George" (2010), "Didaktik Nation Legendary Rock" (2011 Album of the Year in the Vinyla Awards), "Lux Oxid" (2012) and the double CD set "Germanium 2" (2013), which includes 22 hours of music, audio, and archival material from the band’s 15-year history. Also worth noting are the ensemble’s activities in the visual arts (the exhibition “Semifound objects, things and tools used in performing art”).

Nevertheless, the ensembles’ main themes are recycling, sustainable development, and respect for traditions and traditional cultures. Its admiration for natural cultures is also reflected in the ensemble’s work in the area of the visual arts, objects, and installations. Although Handa Gote Research & Development does not want to limit its work to theatre, in creating its performances its members do not think so much about the form of the performance but about the subject, message and process – which, as the saying goes – is more important than the final outcome.