END.LESS.BOW
„His mind was always roving like a free spirit in a new land“
Erick Hawkins about Frederick Kiesler
The outstanding American dancer and choreographer Erick Hawkins (1909-1994) shared a close friendship with the Austrian-American architect and artist Frederick Kiesler (1890-1965). At Kiesler`s funeral on December 30, 1965 in New York, Hawkins held a eulogy and performed a slow bow in front of the coffin - a gesture that resonates as both farewell and continuation. Taking this act as a point of departure, Bert Gstettner expands Hawkins` funeral speech through present text. He wonders about the slow bow, recalls selected Hawkins movement shapes and develops his piece end.less.bow - a choreographic tribute to friendship, legacy and artistic transmission.
END.LESS.BOW | NEW YORK
"end.less.bow by Vienna based choreographer Bert Gstettner [...] combined movement, props, music, and spoken word to create an immersive retelling of the friendship between architect and artist Fredeick Kiesler and Hawkins. Gstettner recited commitments made by Hawkins during Kiesler´s funeral in 1964. [...] his stage prowess and focused presentation made it time well spent."
O&A NYC Dance Review by Walter Rutledge: Long Live Erick Hawkins
July 10 & 11, 2026, 7.30 pm @ Leo Koenig Gallery, Andes New York (18 min) | more information >>>
Gloria McLean, long-time dancer and soloist with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company, blends dance with live music, visual art and media in her performances. Joined by Bert Gstettner at the renowned Leo Koenig Gallery, Andes NY, along with group works, Gloria McLean´s solo and a surprise duet with Bert Gstettner, he performed excerpts from his choreography end.less.bow.
PDF program >>> | PDF press text >>>
photos: C Tang | Bert Gstettner | Bildrecht
July 16, 2026, 8 pm @ Ailey Studios, New York City (45 min)
At the invitaiton of choreographer Gloria McLean NY, austrian dancer and choreographer
Bert Gstettner presented his solo end.less.bow at the Ailey Studios in New York City.
PDF program end.less.bow >>> | PDF program A Tribute To Erick Hawkins >>> | PDF press text >>>
Schreenshots of the video end.less.bow by Jennifer Holub | Bert Gstettner | Bildrecht
END.LESS.BOW | WIEN & ZUG
end.less.bow | April 19, 2025, 6 pm @ T*H Studio 1 | more information >>>
Bert Gstettner´s Studioversion of end.less.bow at the Hawkins-Workshop with Gloria McLean
end.less.bow | October 6, 2024, 4 pm @ Kunsthaus Zug | more information >>>
Performance by Bert Gstettner in the scope of the finissage of the exhibition
Kiesler heute. Werkdialoge mit Zeitgenöss:innen at Kunsthaus Zug (CH)
PDF program (only available in german) >>> | PDF press text (only available in german) >>>
inclination
sparks are from some graves
flashing up to the stars,
their crackling, wrinkles burn solar storms,
fair weather, fair word
and from the grave oblation
chirps the proclamation:
That from the jewels/gemstones/opaque-opals/amethysts/tinder stones
a disclosure occurs: propensity
(by rfh | arranged by b.g.)
end.less.bow is the Bert Gstettner’s most recent choreographic project. He confronts his artistic ancestors and faces his own aging as a dancer. In a dialogue with his former teachers, especially Erick Hawkins, he traces back the paths they opened for him, while reflecting on how he walked them. With his choreography, he aims to display his appreciation, while strengthening the approaches to his own artistic work.
"Life is short, art is long, architecture endless!* And yet the second part of the two-part Kiesler exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zug came to an end. With an impressive gesture by choreographer and dancer Bert Gstettner, who closed the show with an endless bow. This took up the speech and performance of the dancer Erick Hawkins, who bowed to his friend Frederick Kiesler at the funeral service in 1965. Bert Gstettner impressed the audience at various stations within the exhibition space and with reference to Kiesler’s environmental sculptures and Galaxy-Paintings. With Hofstetter Kurt's music and shoe objects designed by Peter Sandbichler for the performer, the circle closes from Kiesler via Hawkins via the exhibition in Zug, from New York in the 1960s to the here and now and to the community of artists who are currently working on Kiesler's oeuvre. Endless means that all ends meet*" Gerd Zillner, Director of the Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation. *Quotes: F. Kiesler
Photos @ Kunsthaus Zug: Fabienne Loosli for B.G. | Objects: F. Kiesler | Photos 1-3 Space: P. Kogler | Photo 9 Object: P. Sandbichler
Through examination of the historical context, he attempts to find out, how different life stories unfold and how overlaps and points of contact pan out. He also examines, how we step into a new phase of life in dance, where the body, acting as our instrument, can no longer display its full potential, while other aspects of the artistic work shine trough.
About the music: “Moebius sounds are sound units that arise on the event horizon of time. The beginning is also the end of the sound. Moebius sound is the temporal version of the spatial principle of a Moebius loop, where the top and bottom are identical.” (Hofstetter Kurt).
end.less.bow | 2024
Choreography, Script, Costume, Objects, Performance Bert Gstettner
Music ZART una cantata moebius – Hofstetter Kurt
Artifacts Peter Sandbichler | Thanks for costume parts Hanna Adlaoui Mayerl
Text excerpts For Kiesler (1965) by Erick Hawkins* | Inclination (2024) by Reinhard F. Handl | Adaptation Bert Gstettner
Production Tanz*Hotel / Art*Act Kunstverein, Vienna
Financial support Austrian Cultural Forum Bern | Cultural Department of the City of Vienna
Cooperations Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation | The Estate of Frederick Kiesler, New York | Austrian Cultural Forum Bern | Kunsthaus Zug, Switzerland | Erick Hawkins Dance Company, Director Katherine Duke |
Erick Hawkins Legacy, New York - Gloria McLean, Laura Pettibone Wright, Penny Shaw
*courtesy of the Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation
Friedrich Kiesler >>> | Erick Hawkins >>> | Peter Sandbichler >>> | Hofstetter Kurt >>>
