Hybrid Film Installation / Live Music / Performance with music by SOCALLED & Gareth Lubbe

“I am myself!” exclaims The Nose when interrogated about where she belongs.

Major Kov, the self-claimed owner of The Nose (originally created by Gogol in 1836) wakes up one fateful morning and discovers that the central feature to his face has disappeared. The narcissist and self-important man frantically runs around the town marshaling all the resources he has to find it. Meanwhile The Nose is seen parading through the chaos of Johannesburg with effortless authority. Fast forward to the 21st Century, we find a wildly-reimagined interpretation of this absurd story explored through electrifying physical expression and fused dance styles framed by opera and rap, all conceptualized by the eccentric Hamburg-based South African choreographer and dancer Jessica Nupen. 

Transformed in Johannesburg from stage onto screen, The Nose is a full-scale hybrid film installation accompanied by live music. An original score and rap libretto by Canadian musician and rapper Josh ‘Socalled’ Dolgin, directed and composed by South African musician Gareth Lubbe responds to themes of greed, hierarchy and emancipation against the imploding backdrop of growing social tensions, political cataclysms and fake news. A spectacular set design together with an international ensemble of dancing singers and singing dancers leads an expedition into an absurd reality driven by superstition and revelation.

In co-production with: Kampnagel Center for the International Arts, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Movement Metropolitan e.V., LKB Gallery

Artistic cooperation: Moving Into Dance Mophatong, Cape Town Opera

Funded by Fonds TURN der Kulturstiftung des Bundes/Federal Cultural Foundation of Germany, Behörde für Kultur & Medien Hamburg, Alfred Toepfer Stiftung, Cassens Stiftung, Berit and Rainer Baumgarten Stiftungsfonds unter dem Dach der Hamburgischen Kulturstiftung, Hamburgische Kulturstiftung, Rudolf Augstein Stiftung, Canada High Commission, Dieter & Elisabeth Ammer and privat funders. Also funded by Claussen-Simon-Stiftung.

Other partners: DAL Deutsche Afrika-Linien, KoopLoft, Tonali

Special Thanks: Gebr. Heinemann SE & Co. KG and (film production): Peter Lovers Monene (Top Unit Film Logistics), Ilse Moore Photography, Magic Lightbox, Panalux, Panavision, The Wardrobe Studio, Lawrence Goodman, Streetbar Named Desire, Thomas Hughes, Moloko, Stephane Cohen, Locstock, Johnny Pappas, William Kentridge, The Centre for the Less Good Idea, Arts on Main, Angela Sartori, Yolandi Mes, Webber & Wentzel, Buzzy Wilson, Luarnae Roos, The Station ZA, GIB Insurance, Quick Brown Fox, Call a Crew, Radical Crew, Top Techs, Krewkut, PACE car rental, Moving Into Dance, The Market Theatre