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SUPERVILLE Images
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Production
Print Version
SUPERVILLE 12 oktober 2008 to 14 november 2009
Superville is music theatre by the Veenfabriek based on the life and works of Humbert de Superville , founding father of the "Leidse Prentenkabinet" (gallery of prints), draughtsman, soldier, art collector and above all visionary.
Superville was made in collaboration with the University of Leiden and performed on the occasion of the University's 86th lustrum (430 years) during the Superville event (June 4 through 11 2005).
Humbert de Superville (1770-1849) was the first director of the 'Leidse Prentenkabinet' (gallery of prints) and lectured Italian and French at the Universiteit Leiden. He was a gifted draughtsman and art theorician. A hundred years before Kandinsky and Rietveld, his theories on lines, form and colour correspondences culminated in a grammar of form that comes close to the abstract art of the early twentieth century.
In his writings and many of his drawings, Superville speculated on the proper place for art in society. His theories resulted in a number of fantastic projects, some of which have a utopian streak. To symbolise the Netherlands, a rock containing a lion the size of the Sphinx of Egypt was to arise from the sea at Katwijk.
Inspired by Supervilles ideas, Martijn Padding and the Veenfabriek musicians wrote a composition. Typical Superville subjects like colours, numbers, the slanted line and the straight line have been translated into music. Supervilles love of slowness, the importance of detail and his symbiosis with the Biblical Job have been integrated in the composition as well.
By jointly performing musical ritual acts, using a personal collection of objects, the performers and musicians again and again build up a ‘Superville chord’.
