“Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed”

Artist Konstantinos Papanikolaou delves into the clutter of his digital collection of content on the realities of dances of the past. Forgotten dances and lost practices find a contemporary echo within compositions that link the past and present of choreographic creation.

In a cycle of life/death/life, the choreographic materials of Vibrant Landscapes pass through different states of the living. They evoke the animal, vegetable and mineral worlds and natural phenomena through a succession of landscapes of bodies in movement. These landscapes follow an organic logic, which reminds us of the perpetual transformation of all matter.

Finally, ALEZAN will explore a woman’s reflection on marriage. Will the white dress be the trigger for a desire to control her own destiny? A social marker that will launch a liberating force?

Konstantinos Papanikolaou and Claire Hurpeau are welcomed as part of the Grand Luxe network.

The diving horse and other mythologies — Konstantinos Papanikolaou

> Work in progress

In the infinite mess that is the Internet there are photographs, informative videos, spiritual texts, lists, suggestions, horoscopes, historical resources, academic treatises, lectures, shows and safety demonstrations…
Everything is piled haphazardly on top of everything else, in shaky piles. We collect some of these images for various reasons, organising them by year, in endless trees, giving them unusual file names, in order to eventually use them one day.
Konstantinos Papanikolaou fished out five images from the disparate libraries that populate his personal computer. Five documents from the realities of dance in the past: forgotten dances and lost practices. Brave girls gallop into the void, couples dance to exhaustion under the greedy gaze of an insatiable audience, ethereal ballerinas sacrifice themselves on the altar of art. From these five photographs, Konstantinos contemplates dance practices that time has set in a trajectory of decline, questioning both their origins and the traces they leave behind.
He leaves the interpretation of documents to historians. He does not study them, he reflects on them. He does not reconstruct history, but rather tries to deal with the present. He builds small ephemeral bridges from his premises to each source.
Perhaps the past is not formed by the facts/events themselves, but rather by the way we study and interpret them? Moreover, what tools can we build to understand both the things that have been bequeathed to us and our long lost distant relatives/ancestors? That is, the very roots of our practices?

Choregraphy & interpretation : Konstantinos Papanikolaou | Dramaturgy : Paparaskevi Tektonidou | Video : Alexandros Merkouris
The film version of “The diving Horse and other mythologies” was created for the Onassis New Choreographers Festival in March 2021

 

Vibrant Landscapes — Claire Hurpeau

> Work in progress

In a cycle of life/death/life, the choreographic materials of Vibrant Landscapes pass through different states of the living. They evoke the animal, vegetable and mineral worlds and natural phenomena through a succession of landscapes of bodies in movement. These landscapes follow an organic logic, which recalls the perpetual transformation of all matter. Sometimes they imperceptibly slide from one to another, sometimes they emerge from moments of rupture, causing the spectator to switch from one universe to another.
This project echoes Lavoisier’s principle: … for nothing is created, neither in the operations of art nor in those of nature, and we can posit that, in any operation, there is an equal quantity of matter before and after the operation; that the quality and quantity of the principles is the same, and that there are only changes, modifications.

Concept & choregraphy :  Claire Hurpeau | Prospective performers : Antje Schur, Brigitta Horváth, Sarah Grandjean, Vera Mallien | Sound design :  Armand Lesecq | External view :  Marie Cambois | Production :  Artenréel #1 | Direction with support :  du Théâtre du Marché aux Grains – Atelier de Fabrique Artistique – Bouxwiller et de la Salle Europe de Colmar | Residency / studio facilities :  le TROIS C-L, Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois, l’Abri de Genève, le Laboratoire Chorégraphique / Atelier de Fabrique Artistique de Reims  le Théâtre du Marché aux Grains / Atelier de Fabrique Artistique de Bouxwiller. | Partners : Région Grand Est in the context of the Support for Emergence scheme.

 

ALEZAN — Loïc Faquet

> Projection

A woman dressed in a wedding dress finds herself in a stable. Disturbed in her intimacy, she questions the possibility of marrying her own destiny.

The wedding dress represents a chronological milestone in a woman’s life. A social milestone that is immediately defined and recognised through the garment. This moment can be seen as an achievement in one’s life and is viewed positively. But is it an obligatory step in a woman’s life?

Marriage is certainly a social institution that implies love, but it cannot replace it. Can we free ourselves from the social markers that may surround our upbringing, nourish our environment without fear of judgement from others, without having personal regrets supported by our gaze?
Are we able to distinguish our own desires?

Choregraphy : Loïc Faquet | Interpretation : Alizée Duvernois | Direction : Jérémy Tran | Music : Adrien Graf | Location : Centre Équestre Saint-Maur Des Fossés

HVNGRY FOR MORE — Valerie Reding

> Photo exhibition

Welcome to our pantheon of queer icons, where alterity, diversity and vulnerability are nurtured, shared and celebrated. We are HVNGRY for more – hungry for more tolerance, more respect, more freedom, more visibility, more protection, more rights, more solidarity and more love!

HVNGRY for more is a series of photographs by Valerie Reding consisting of seven portraits of queer people with diverse bodies, cultural and social backgrounds, sexualities, gender identities and expressions. In close collaboration with the people portrayed and strongly inspired by references to religious iconography, camp, pop culture and video game aesthetics, HVNGRY for more creates a safe space for the free exploration of alternative representations of trans and non-binary people as well as QPOC (queer people of colour) – far beyond gender binarity or other socialisations.

Concept, photography, costumes, makeup : Valerie Reding | Models : Bruna Revlon, Edwin Ramirez, Elie Autin, Mahalia Giotto, Sandro Niederer, Sebastien Rück, Titilayo Adebayo | Photography assistant : Mahalia Giotto | Production assistant : Nicolas Dubosson | Fluorescent yellow acrylic wristbands : Milko Boyarov| Production, administration, communication : REDart, Valerie Reding| Partners : BØWIE – The Gender Projects Incubator, Be You Network, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Étienne Germain, Fondation Indépendance by BIL, Kulturfolger, Lust*Art by Luststreifen Film Festival Basel, LOS – Lesbenorganisation Schweiz, Ministère de la Culture du Luxembourg, Pink Cross, Stadt Zürich Kultur, TGNS – Transgender Network Switzerland, TROIS C-L Centre de Création, Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois, zürich moves! festival