DARUM (Laura Andreß, Victoria Halper, Kai Krösche)

EXIT: OPEN

AUSGANG: OFFEN

Austria, 2020, 98’23”                    

Founded in 2018, the collective DARUM produces interdisciplinary art that combines film, theater, music, literature, room, and visual art with performance. In search of new and immediately experienceable aesthetic forms of expression, DARUM develops its immersive projects by way of extensive hands-on research, resulting in works that often blur the boundaries between what is real and not. DARUM‘s projects are all based on the question of ”why?”. But questions are often the better answers: therefore, DARUM strives to ”fail better“ in its artistic pursuit to answer their self-imposed questions despite the meaning of the collective’s name: DARUM (”because“ in German). DARUM is a creative hub for artists from diverse artistic backgrounds and is headed by Laura Andreß, Victoria Halper und Kai Krösche. Their debut performance project “Ungebetene Gäste / Uninvited Guests” received much critical acclaim and was nominated for the prestigious Austrian Theatre Award, the NESTORY in 2019.

Laura Andreß                                                                                                                         

(*1990 Linz, Austria) studied theatre, film, and media studies in Vienna and dramaturgy at the “Ernst Busch” Conservatory in Berlin. She collaboratively develops performative and documentary concepts for television, film and theater. Her interest in very real and personal stories resultsin many conversations with a variety of people that then influence and contribute to her work. The theatre production “Name Her” (Directed by Marie Schleef), which she worked on as a dramaturg, has been invited to the 2021 Theatertreffen in Berlin. “Exit: Open” is her first film project.

Victoria Halper                                                                                                                                

 (*1988, Toronto, Canada) is a trained actor, director and video artist. After completing her studies at the University of Toronto, she moved to the country of her parents: Austria. In Europe she has worked on stage and sceen as an actor, back stage directing plays and short films as well as experimenting with video installations in performances and editing films of any length.

Kai Krösche                                                                                                                         

 (*1985 Düsseldorf, Germany) is a director, video artist, writer, and composer. After assisting film and theatre maker Christoph Schlingensief at the Volksbühne Berlin: „Kunst und Gemüse, A. Hipler“ (2004), he studied theatre, film and media studies as well as philosophy at the University of Vienna. He is a recipient of the 2021 Dramatist Scholarship from the city of Vienna for his upcoming screenplay “Bilder Schießen” (engl. “Shooting Pictures”).