HOTEL MODERN (ROTTERDAM)
NORTH AMERICA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Hotel Modern blends visual art, puppetry, music, film and performance in expressive theatre productions. The group’s visual language is rich and playful. Scale models play an important role in their work, allowing Hotel Modern to view the world literally from a macro perspective. The horror of war is a frequently recurring theme in the group’s work: Kamp is a theatrical portrait of Auschwitz, while The Great War depicts the First World War as seen through the eyes of the soldiers. Hotel Modern also make absurdist, lighter-hearted work, such as Shrimp Tales, which is a high-spirited portrayal of humanity in which 350 real, dried shrimps play the roles of people.The members of Hotel Modern are idealistic in the sense that they believe that theatre can foster a sense of reconciliation. They seek to offer solace in a world where people are sometimes afraid of one another. The group achieves this not by presenting a rose-tinted vision of the world, but by formulating a refined, confronting and poetic interpretation of reality. Hotel Modern was founded in 1997. Its members are the actors Arlène Hoornweg and Pauline Kalker, and the artist and performer Herman Helle. The composers Arthur Sauer and Ruud van der Pluijm often collaborate with the group.