A Monday morning in the office, a weird phone call awakes me from my weekend sleepiness. An old friend that I haven´t heard in a long time telling me something about an amazing erotic dance act asking me if I wanna see some footage and maybe do an Interview with them? Only five minutes afterwards, I´ve seen the video and I am definitely awake. What was that? -Somehow obscure, bizarre, sexy and disgusting- In the trailer to their performance it´s said that Neverporn is an Erotic Art Organization, a synthesis of love for porn and passion for theatre. It is described as the first begotten of punkrock, protesting against itself. Three days later we meet in the beautiful poker backroom of the „Wilde Renate” with five even more beautiful girls and five Bottles of the finest Berlins Vodka market has to offer. Of course it was a hard fight in the editorial team, on who has the pleasure to do that interview. Even though we were not sure if we shouldn´t be afraid of the girls after what I have seen on tape. I filled up the shot glasses and we had the first one. Cheers!
So, first of all I want to know about the website and the name. How did this thing started?
The project started three years ago and in the first place it was just an art photo project of friends, who wanted to show erotic pictures that tell a story. After some time, we came up with the idea to tell those little scenes and erotic short stories on stage as a live performance theatre. The Problem is that in Russia the public is not very open minded toward erotic art, and so our performances are not seen as art by the larger public.
You use music in your performances. How important is the music in your performances and what kind of music do you use.
It certainly depends on the program we are performing. Sometimes Swing, sometimes Circus elements, sometimes old Russian folk songs. Tomorrow you will see a small act that we call exercises. It´s a short performance, that consists of 5 small scenes. It is just some outline of what we do.
Do you often perform outside Russia. And is it your first time in Berlin?
It will be our first show in Berlin but not the first time being here. We did some Art and Music Festivals in Western Europe. We just came here from the Gogbot Festival in Enschede Netherlands. In Russia especially in St. Petersburg we are already quite famous. People even sometimes recognize us in the streets.
Welcome to Berlin then ……cheers!
What is St. Petersburg like and can you compare it to Berlin?
St. Petersburg is not Russia, it is more open for cultural life arts and alternative lifestyles. Our art is not a big business cooperation. It is a group of friends that want to live their life and want to do what they really admire. We have no business plans and we are never done with something. We are always open for new ideas and develop our performances constantly. So as I said St. Petersburg has a lot of arty potential but everyone is always short on money. That is what I heard about Berlin too.
This is definitely not just an image: „to the poor but sexy”….cheers girls!
And do you like Berlin?
What I personally like is the great Streetart here in Berlin, you would never find this in St. Petersburg. If you see a good graffiti, it is already overdrawn the next day. As I already mentioned the Russian public is not so open minded with art. Most people just favor and value classical art fields.
So it all started with a group of friends. Are you open for new members to join in with new ideas?
As I said, we were all friends beforehand, and we cannot expand this network endlessly. But certainly we develop our shows constantly so there might be some room for new ideas, as well.
Do you live together in one place?
No, some of us do, but we spend a lot of time together anyway, so we sometimes feel almost like Family.
Have you ever been called the Russian suicide girls?
Of course, but Neverporn is not only a cooperation that sells premium accounts for picture galleries. It´s much more it is an artist collective that offers a variety of entertainment and shows. In Russia we have one group of girls in the Moscow area that are more likely to be the Russian suicide girls.
Is doing this kind of bizarre art performances your main profession or do you have other jobs, too? Furthermore, do your parents know what you do, and do they support you?
Some of us have other part time jobs, but we practice at least 3 times a week or more often. Our parents know what we do and they are ok with it. I mean we are all adults and we are all good girls. We were all tired of our office jobs when we started Neverporn. Now we do what we like and are able to travel the world this is what makes my parents for example proud of me, I think. Even if I have to tell you – that it´s not so easy for young unmarried Russian girls to get a visa whenever you want it.
And why is it called Neverporn? Is it provocation?
At first, it should indicate that it´s not some cheap Stripshow, but real art performances. And second, of course it´s a provocative name for all the people who don´t like what we do.
As Russians you must be vodka experts, what do you think about the Held Wodka?
We have one girl in the group that is an expert. She is called Anna Vodka sadly she couldn´t be on this tour with us. We others actually don´t drink that much vodka, but this one is really great, strong in taste. Most of the Western Europe vodkas we tried where very weak if you compare them to Russian standards.
What is your personal goal with Neverporn. Where do you see yourself in ten years?
We want to make enough money so we can buy an island to build our own society with all of our friends. I´m not kidding this is the real background purpose of the Neverporn idea. We want to become independent for the TV watching uptight public we have to face every day and everywhere.
Now, after we drank this huge amount of vodka together, can I get one place on your island, too?
We can put you on the waiting list…but as I said this is no fun. We mean it.
The next day I went to the show and had an awesome evening with a great performance by the girls. And still I could not find out, if it was the bizarre or the erotic part of this obscure theatre that peaked my curiosity in the first place. Yet it was hard to believe that those confident tough women on stage are the same, in the beginning quite shy girls, that cracked the all time high in the amount of Vodka used in an Held vodka interview the other day. For more info on the Neverporn collective got to neverporn.com or check out the interview production video with some snippets from the show on .de Special thanks to “Wilde Renate“ for the location and the staff that supported us.
Interview Benjamin Gruber
Fotos und Support Jil Berner
Language Support Andrej Estov
mehr Fotos gibts hier:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/proudmagazine/sets/72157625120169440/
und hier das Video:
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Benjamin Gruber
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