Svend E. Kristensen (DK) – Artistic Manager Stageart Theatre Sew Flunk Fury Wit.
Svend E. Kristensen started out his artistic career at the experimental music scene in Denmark in the early 80’s. Attended dance- and performance training since the late 80’s. Worked for and were schooled by performance troupe Von Heiduck touring most of Europe with a series of Peepshows, e.g. award winning show Salomé (best performance Germany 1999).
…neo-puppetry
After studies in Media Science at the University of Aarhus and puppetry studies in Japan he established and defined his own theatre of Neo-puppetry, the ritual and performancetheater ”Mediet og Masken” (The Media and the Mask). As an artist developing life-sized hyper naturalistic puppets he has played several solos in Tokyo Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and throughout Europe.
…collaboration with Livingstones Kabinet, Kristján Ingimarsson Company and The Royal Danish Theatre
Since the mid 90’s he has worked as an actor with many Danish directors and several companies e.g. Kristján Ingimarsson Company, Livingstones Kabinet, at The Royal Danish Theatre. Kristensen has done teachings and lectures in the fields of performance and physical theatre since the 90’s and puppetry since 2002.
…the Dragon – you won’t ever see all of it
In 2005 he was invited by former artistic partner Pia Gredal to do a grand sculpture exhibition in several Danish art museums with the purpose of stimulating the senses of children. The exhibition entitled ”the Dragon – you wont ever see all of it” were build from materials, forms and sound design within a framework defined by myths surrounding dragons and snakes. 40.000 kids attended the exhibition.
As sounddesigner he eg. created the acclaimed sound design for the worldwide success of the award winning performance BLAM by Kristjan Ingimarsson Company.
…Sew Flunk Fury Wit – LIFE SIZE PUPPETS
In 2013 he formed the stageart theatre Sew Flunk Fury Wit after using several years elaborating, developing and designing various life-sized puppets from materials such as carbon fibers, silicones and other composites in a search for a reneweal in the design of the adult puppetry. This work has been supported by the Danish Art council throughout the years. The performance ”Feinschmecker” 2014 was the first group work within SFFW with 3 life-sized hyper naturalistic female puppets designed by Thomas Hejlesen (von Heiduck) and 3 male puppeteers. The performance shows women as seen by men, but turns out to be mostly about men and their rituals, using the perfect female puppets as tools to tell their own story. The score was based on italian soundtracks from the 70’ties and additional compositions by Peter Kyed.
2016 the awarded performance STØV/DUST, had its premiere at castle Marienlyst in Elsingore. STØV/DUST has now toured Denmark on several occasion including Copenhagen Operafestival and stageart festival CPH Stage 2016/2018, the Royal Theater in Copenhagen and played international festivals Musikal I Teten (Norway) 2017, Iida Puppet Festa 17 (Japan), D-CAf Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival Cairo 2018, Helsingborg City Theater (Sweden) 2017, Festival Operudagar Reykjavik 2018, Dimitria Festival 2018 (Greece), Narva Opera Days 2019 (Estonia). Coming up postponed Saameraa Operafestival 2021 (Estonia).
The performance CRASH, a slow motion car crash opera lasting 80 min., premiered spring 2018 and played Theater Betty Nansen CPH. and The Fyen Opera city of Odense.
International Co-production Corpo Surreal with founding members of Kyoto based performance group Antibodies Collective, Alþýðuóperan Iceland and composer MURCOF premiered February 2020 Katapult Theater city of Aarhus, played The Royal Opera Takkelloftet CPH, Spiral Hall Tokyo and Rohm Theater Kyoto before the international tour was hit by the Covid-19 shut downs. To come is D-Caf Downtown Contamporary Arts Festival Cairo 16 and 17 of October 2020 and Festival Operaudagar City Theater of Reykjavik 21 of October 2020.
A collection of pictures from our neo-puppetry developments here
See more of Svend E. Kristensen’s earlier work with life sized puppets and performance here