Étude for an Emergency. Composition for Ten Bodies and a Car 

by Florentina Holzinger

In Étude for an Emergency. Composition for Ten Bodies and a Car, Florentina Holzinger once again draws attention to the body as a spectacle – and to how it can be trained. A stunt is an unusual and challenging physical activity that requires special skills and is usually performed for artistic reasons for television, theatre or film. An aria in opera is the equivalent to a stunt in an action film.

Holzinger has created a musical study for ten bodies and a car with a mixed cast of stuntwomen, opera singers and performers. The 'emotional industries' of opera and film are dissected with anatomical precision and broken down into their technical aspects alone until nothing remains but the body's sounds. Florentina Holzinger deliberately pulls and pushes the boundaries between high culture and 'mere' entertainment. The result is a brutal parody of sensationalist images that we are familiar with from film, opera, TV and the internet. In a series of joint operatic rituals and orchestrated crash tests, the performers learn to master their bodies and voices and prepare for emergencies.