Ian Kaler “SENTIENT BEINGS”

Video Installation
August 12, 2025
19.30 & 21.20 H
Schwere Reiter Studio

Free admission
Barrier-free

The choreographer, performer and filmmaker, Ian Kaler, has a close connection to horses, which he repeatedly makes the subject and element of his artistic works. He studied Transmedial Art in Vienna and graduated in 2010 with the solo piece “Save a horse, ride a cowboy” from the Contemporary Dance, Context, Choreography at the Inter-University Center for Dance (HZT) in Berlin. Since then, he has been a constant on the international contemporary dance scene.

“I started riding at the age of six. Spending time with horses was a crucial part of my growing up and shaped my perception of body language, group dynamics, the way bodies move and negotiate in a shared space, and movement on and off the horse's back.”

The 40-minute video installation “SENTIENT BEINGS” is an (auto-) biographical, artistic examination of the horse as a sensitive, powerful alter ego. Kaler deals with the sensory and emotional perception of the encounter between two “sentient beings” – and thematizes moments of closeness, connectedness, but also loneliness. The video asks: Do you want to recognize yourself in a horse? What longings and desires are linked to this encounter? Is it possible to find something familiar in this tall, strange creature? The work is accompanied by an atmospherically dense, suspenseful soundtrack by French artist rRoxymore, who combines electronic sounds with elements of ambient country as well as animal and nature sounds.

Direction, choreography, performance: Ian Kaler
Music, soundtrack: rRoxymore
Setting: Stephanie Rauch
Video design, editing: Dafne Narvaez Berlfein
Colorgrading: Caio Soarez
Sound design: Andreas Hamza
Coaching: Jane Palmer
Training: MTM
Production management: das Schaufenster (Vienna), Sarie Nijboer (Berlin)
Production: Ian Kaler

FILM CREW BERLIN
Assistant to the director: Dafne Narvaez Berlfein
Cinematography: Ethan Folk
Lighting design: Francisco MeCe
Horse: Joblesco
Horse training: Janina Maria Fieml / Hof Cassiopeia

FILM CREW VIENNA
Cinematography: Diara Sow
Lighting design: Nick Prokesch
Lighting technicians: Sebastian Bauer, Marco Tölzer
Horse: Aragon
Horse training: Schottenhof Zentrum für tiergestützte Pädagogik -
Integratives Reiten und Voltigieren

Thanks to Uferstudios and Hof Cassiopeia.

Supported by Stadt Wien | Kultur and NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ - STEPPING OUT, funded by the Minister of State for Culture and Media within the framework of the initiative NEUSTART KULTUR. Assistance Program for Dance.