Joachim Koester Knihy

Danish artist Joachim Koester’s new book, Bringing Something Back, centres on a series of “meditation tapes”. The “tapes” explored the various twilight zones between waking and sleeping, and what can be brought back from such semi-darkened mental states in an exhibition context. Operating on the one hand as a catalogue, the book also sets out to expand this exploration in its own right. A visual essay, compiled by art historian, writer and curator Yann Chateigné, runs through the book and combines Koester’s own works with a selection of archival pictures that visually extends the discourse of the “tapes”, texts and artworks. Text: Yann Chateigné, Joachim Koester, Jelena Martinovic, David Toop + an interview between Yann Chateigné and Joachim Koester.

The book serves as an extension of Danish artist Joachim Koester’s exploration of Jerzy Grotowski’s mythical persona and experimental theater approach. Eugenio Barba describes Grotowski’s practice as a space for physical and psychological experimentation, where actors transform into different beings or objects. In the late 1970s, Grotowski shifted from Paratheater to the Theater of Sources, focusing on transcultural rituals and shamanic practices, including those of Haitian voodoo practitioners and Indian yogis. He viewed ritual as the foundation of drama, leading him to develop a system of “motions” and “spatial practices” that significantly influenced contemporary performance, integrating anthropology, nature, and ritual. Koester’s 16mm films aim to question and recreate the core ideas of Grotowski’s writings and practices, involving former students and collaborators in revisiting Grotowski’s exercises. In one film, Koester features actor Juan Soriano, who worked with Grotowski, performing on the terrace of architect Luis Barragan's house, connecting their artistic visions conceptually. This publication, in collaboration with Koester, investigates Grotowski’s trips to Mexico, offering insights from historians, anthropologists, and former students like Jaime Soriano. It highlights two workshops Grotowski organized in Mexico, one among the Huichol Indians and another in a warehouse near Amecameca, leaving their occurrences sh