According to Webster's New World College Dictionary, "osseous" means "composed of bone," and a labyrinth is, of course, a maze. The spelling of the group Osseus Labyrint's name isn't exactly the same as the words in the dictionary, but, for a group that is known for its ever-morphing body-based work, the image of a maze of bone may be as good as any. As part of UCLA Live's current International Theatre Festival, Osseus Labyrint, in association with Barry Schwartz, is presenting Modern Prometheus LLC, running Nov. 17-21. The piece, which depicts the corporate launch of a new life form, features Schwartz's electronic experiments merged with Labyrint's physical virtuosity. Being part of a theatre festival, however, was not in Labyrint's thoughts when the group was formed.
Osseus Co-Founders/Directors Mark Steger and Hannah Sim met in San Francisco in 1989. According to Sim, each belonged to a separate experimental theatre group. Sim worked with the Japanese troupe Harupin-Ha, and Steger was a member of Elbows Akimbo, which happened to rehearse in Sim's loft. Neither had a traditional theatre background. Steger was interested in drawing and animation; Sim was fascinated by science. Something clicked into place upon their meeting.
"Pretty soon after we met we realized we were supposed to be doing something together," says Sim. "We didn't think we were going to have this movement-based theatre company; we called it a laboratory of random mutations, which meant anything could happen. We'd just get together with anything we had, which was our bodies, some really ancient music equipment, and books. Everything we could get our hands on around us was an influence. We didn't take our inspiration from other theatre or dance. We don't necessarily consider ourselves of that realm; it's the just the only place that people can witness what we do. What inspires us more are things like life sciences or animation."
Since that beginning, Osseus Labyrint has traveled the world, performing throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. They have, as they put it, "inhabited extreme, remote, conventional, and self-made environments—mutating their flesh, exhibiting, filming, and building things since 1989." In one of their most acclaimed works, THEM, they began the performance hanging from ropes under an L.A. bridge and ended it being swept away by the L.A. River. Their current collaboration with the Oakland-based Schwartz has been percolating for over a decade.
"The seed of the idea happened a long time ago," recalls Sim. "We were invited on an exchange between Czech artists and American artists where we were invited to do a three-city tour of what then still Czechoslovakia. We'd never met or heard of [fellow tour performer] Barry Schwartz before. We met him in a psychiatric hospital there; the organizers of the tour had arranged for us to spend a day there. Barry had requested to be there for a week to set up his installation. After [the performances] were over, he was telling us about the things he does with electricity and how he could arc electricity off our bodies while we were doing what we do. [Years later,] when [UCLA Live Artistic Director] David Sefton contacted us, we remembered this idea of electricity arcing off of our bodies, and we wondered: 'What can we do around that?' Frankenstein, of course, came to mind. We started reverse-engineering it from that. We embraced themes that we're interested in, like evolution. For me, the story has a lot to do with a paradox that exists in me. I'm a science geek, and I'm totally fascinated by the whole idea of cloning or taking control of your own evolution, stem cell research, all that stuff. I think it's really fascinating and, at the same time, I'm terrified by it. The attitude of: 'If we can do this, why not do it?'"
Sim says Labyrint often serves as a 3-D Rorschach test for its audiences; their reactions reflect more about themselves than the piece. When asked about what drives the group artistically, Sim has obviously considered the issue at length.
"We feel like there's some force driving us that we're not always even all that thrilled about, necessarily," she says. "It's something we're put here to do. I came up with a theory as to what that [force] might be. If you believe in the Big Bang, and that there's a finite amount of matter and energy in the universe, and evolution—I'm not sure if I believe in anything, but they're very elegant theories, and they sound cool to me. What came to me one day in a flash is that there's all this energy and matter, and it just keeps evolving and recombining in different configurations. All the little molecules and atoms break down and finally get remade into me. That's been happening for millions of years, so there's a little bit of stardust in me, in all of us. I got the feeling that those molecules, having been all these other things before, have the memories of those things, and at various times are demanding to be recognized or expressed or acknowledged in some way. And that's what's driving us."
"Modern Prometheus LLC" plays at New Deal Studios, 4121 Redwood Ave., Marina del Rey. Nov. 17–21. Wed.–Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 7 p.m. (310) 825-2101.