Fantastic Five dancing at Dürr's anniversary show

Dance of colors

Mar 23, 2023

A trip to Rio, flying colors, then a dance with the painting robots: The Fantastic 5 artist group has cast Dürr’s 125-year history into a spectacular anniversary show. Video artist Gunther von Morgen tells us how the team approached this.

You have developed the show for Dürr with your team. What is so special about the performances of the Fantastic 5?

We dissolve the boundaries between space and time. In the process, the physical and virtual worlds merge. We achieve this with the help of video sequences to which our dancers move on stage in a precisely coordinated manner. In the show for Dürr they throw virtual balls of colored paint into the air, for example. These take on ever new shapes, thus creating a space of unlimited possibilities. I think this image is a good fit for a technology company in the 21st century.

Two members of the Fantastic Five dance group — High spirits behind the scenes: the two guys from the group of dancers.

Dancer with Dürr backpack on stage — With a Dürr backpack on stage: There is a lot of attention to detail in the anniversary show.

How did you proceed when designing the show?

At first, we took a look at Dürr’s history. Our story begins with the founding of the Brazilian subsidiary, Dürr’s first step toward becoming a global player. Its entry into the paint shop business, but also topics such as efficiency and sustainability, played a prominent role in the concept. This resulted first in the storyboard and later in the choreography. The videos were produced according to these templates. The dancers then practiced their movements with the background videos. They spent more than 30 hours rehearsing for this. I especially liked the part where they dance the twist with the virtual painting robots.

The film is centered on the founder’s grandson, Heinz Dürr, who is one of the Group’s most important leading entrepreneurial figures. How did you integrate him into the show?

At almost 90 years of age, Heinz Dürr has experienced a large part of the company’s history and narrates the decisive stages in the video. For this purpose, we visited and interviewed him in his office in Berlin. He talks not only about the Group, but also about his entrepreneurial attitude. His prudent and personal style provides an interesting contrast to the otherwise very colorful and dynamic show. When we created the concept, there were long discussions about whether this contrast was too strong. But in the end, we were very happy with the result and the audience reacted enthusiastically as well.

Gunther von Morgen is one of the pioneers of video art. As early as in the 1990s, he experimented with film and slide shows at concerts and other events. Later, he began to combine video sequences with movements. He founded the → artist group Fantastic 5 in 2011.

We dissolve the boundaries between space and time. In the process, the physical and virtual worlds merge.

Gunther von Morgen, video artist

Warm-up for the Dürr anniversary show — Warm-up for body and mind: Preparation for the performance in the backstage area.

The dancers practiced their movements with the background videos. They spent more than 30 hours rehearsing for this. I especially liked the part where they dance the twist with the virtual painting robots.

Gunther von Morgen, video artist