“Crash Test #5: Theater” looks at symmetry and power relations, questioning cultural hierarchies that give priority to language over bodily experience. It takes shape as an ongoing negotiation, where the search for symmetry becomes both a working method and a metaphor. As such, symmetry is delicate, temporary and prone to collapse.
The performers’ relationship shifts continuously, sometimes revealing vulnerability, sometimes resilience, suggesting associations that move between companionship and intimacy. The work also plays with the ambiguity of its title, from operating theaters to theaters of war.
Crash Test is a format and series of works that began in 2022 by Paula Rosolen/Haptic Hide to generate encounters and dialogue between choreography and visual arts. These events take place outside traditional theatrical spaces, mostly in gallery rooms. In this proposal, Rosolen investigates other kinds of sensitivities and timings that are harder to approach within a theatrical setup. In these events, the spectator moves freely, and so does their time of focus. Paula Rosolen moves away from the theatrical black box to investigate the development of new ways of working, expression, and production methods that are less anachronistic and more in line with today’s uncertainty, paying special attention to sustainability.
Biography
Paula Rosolen studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main and earned her master’s degree in choreography and performance at Justus Liebig University in Gießen. She is a recipient of the 1st prize at the international Danse Élargie competition, organized by Théâtre de la Ville in Paris and Musée de la Danse in Rennes.
She has created performances at renowned theaters, festivals, museums, galleries and urban spaces, including Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Tanzhaus NRW, HELLERAU, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Kampnagel, deSingel in Antwerp, Theaterfestival Basel, Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Festival Paris l’été, Espace 1789, Théâtre Onyx, Le Carreau du Temple, CCC in Buenos Aires, Sophiensælen in Berlin, Museum Wiesbaden, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Museum of Contemporary Art in Sofia, ZKM Karlsruhe, BE Festival in Birmingham, the Dance New Air Festival in Tokyo, and many more.
Her productions include Aerobics! – A Ballet in 3 Acts (2015), recognized as an outstanding dance production for Tanzplattform Deutschland 2016, as well as Puppets (2016), PUNK‽ (2018), FLAGS (2020), 16BIT (2022), Beat by Bits (2022), and Orbis (2023), commissioned by Gießen Tanz at Stadttheater Gießen NOICE/NOISE (2025). She has also been granted with numerous residencies and grants, including Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto, K3 Center for Choreography in Hamburg, Workspace Brussels, Hessian State Ballet, and the Saison Foundation in Tokyo. Currently, she is an artist in residency at Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris through a grant from the Hessische Kulturstiftung, where she is focused on her performance and visual arts series Crash Tests.
