STATE is the deadly God who kneads and bakes our bread. The state has the power to form our will and show us how to perform our rituals. Like dough, the state is kneaded by its citizens, competing states, and raised by yeast – the collective unconscious. The finished product is often insufficient, gets burned or simply moulds over time. STATE premiered in Dom im Berg at the steirischer herbst festival (AU) in September 2016, and is inspired by ritual dances from a wide range of sources. Together with five dancers and two musicians, choreographer Ingri Midgard Fiksdal and director Jonas Corell Petersen draft ideas for fictional and real states. STATE is part concert part dance performance, with music composed by Lasse Marhaug. The composition fluctuates between the natural sounds of the instruments and that created when they are processed through various electronic devices. The costumes, created by Henrik Vibskov, double as the stage design. When researching the performance we visited different pow-wows in Quebec, Canada, to see how First Nations such as the Mohawk (Kahnewake) and Iriquioan integrate their rituals in a modern context. We explored different bodily and mental states – amongst them hypnosis and various reading. We are interested in the micro politics that operatate in the relation between rituals and the apparatus of the modern nation state. How are the workings of rituals on the state, and of the state on rituals? We have asked researchers from different fields to elaborate and expand on the idea of the nation state, its rituals and fictions, and mental and bodily states. The contributors are Bojana Cvejic, Knut Ove Eliassen, Ingjerd Hoëm, Kenan Malik, Jon Refsdal Moe, Cecilia Sjöholm and The Centre for Wild Analysis. Ingri Midgard Fiksdal and Jonas Corell Petersen. Concept, Choreography: Ingri Midgard Fiksdal. Concept, Dramaturgy: Jonas Corell Petersen. Composer: Lasse Marhaug.Lighting designers: Øyvind Wangensteen and Phillip Isaksen. Costume designer: Henrik Vibskov. Developed and performed by: Rosalind Goldberg, Rannei Grenne, Nuria Guiu Sagarra, Louis Schou-Hanssen and Jeffrey Young. Musicians: Heida J. Mobeck and Anja Lauvdal. Producer: Nicole Schuchardt. Administrator and assistant choreographer: Eva Grainger. Photos: Anders Lindén Co-produced by: steirischer herbst festival (AT), Black Box Theatre (NO), BIT teatergarasjen (NO), Teaterhuset Avant Garden (NO) and the apap network (EU). Supported by: The Norwegian Arts Council and the Norwegian Artistic Research Program.