Habitat

Since 1994, laborgras has stood for experimental dance art, interdisciplinary collaboration and an aesthetic language that deliberately defies established conventions.

What began as an artistic initiative centred around the dancers and choreographers Renate Graziadei and Arthur Stäldi has developed over the years into a permanent fixture within Berlin's independent dance scene.

To mark its 25th anniversary in Berlin, the collective is presenting a series of selected works - including the highly acclaimed piece ‘Habitat’ (5 - 8 June 2025), which is now being performed again in a revised form.

An artistic laboratory for 25 years

In Berlin's Uferstudios, ‘Habitat’ invites the audience to immerse themselves in a changeable field of tension between space, body and sound. The walk-in installation is created in an overall space formed by the larger-than-life oak sculptures by sculptor Volker Schnüttgen and the soundscape by Giorgio de Santis. Some of the sculptures harbour audiovisual spaces inside them - equipped with monitors and loudspeakers - that enable intimate, almost meditative encounters.

At the centre of the installation, the dancer and choreographer Renate Graziadei moves around a clearly defined performance area. Using the latest technologies, a connection is created in real time between her body and the sculptures - she appears there live, individually or as a multiple clone in digital spaces. Music, movement and image merge into a fluid narrative about the relationship between people, space and perception.

‘Habitat’ was carefully revised 15 years after its premiere and shows how contemporary dance can reflect, develop and recontextualise itself - entirely in the spirit of the laborgras collective, which has always understood dance not as a closed form, but as an exploratory, open field.
‘Over time, a beautiful, ever stronger correspondence is spun between the earth-heavy wooden figures projecting in all directions and Graziadei's dance, between ‘nature’ and technological simulation,’ Michaela Schlagenwerth writes in the Berliner Zeitung.

After the one-hour performance, the installation will remain open for a further two hours. Visitors are invited to reflect on the experience, discover their own perspectives and enter into dialogue with the artists. A bar in the room creates space for dialogue and feedback.
The 25th anniversary is therefore more than just an occasion to celebrate. It is impressive proof of how continuous artistic work can exist beyond the big stage - with courage, depth and the willingness to keep asking: What is dance? And what can it be?

Performances & information
5 to 8 June, 19:00
Uferstudios Berlin
www.laborgras.com