Collectionner un geste
Conferences directed by Jérôme Mauche.
This new event in the Poetry Platform series features Boris Charmatz, one of the most gifted dancers and choreographers of his generation, and Béatrice Josse, who heads 49 Nord 6 Est FRAC Lorraine. Starting with questions related to the preservation, diffusion, and presentation of new forms of objects and projects issuing from performance as well as dance, Boris Charmatz and Béatrice Josse will talk about the subtle manner in which they deal with trouble and hybridity, in the respective fields of their activities and at their intersection.
Boris Charmatz is the author of important choreographic works, from Aatt…enen…tionon (1996) to Enfant (2011). He also helped develop many collective projects. Appointed to the direction of the Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne in 2009, he chose to change the name of the institution to « Musée de la danse » -as part of a context, entailing a change in practices. Béatrice Josse, who has been at the helm of the FRAC Lorraine since 1993 (also renaming it, to 49 Nord 6 Est), has put together a collection in which immaterial pieces, performances, and artists’ protocols hold a privileged place, as do approaches originating in other disciplines such as dance and filmmaking.
A common space for thought and practice emerges. Boris Charmatz, who was an associate artist at the last Festival d’Avignon, is also the author of an important book, Je suis une école (Les Prairies ordinaires, 2009). And Béatrice Josse punctually takes part with performer Aurélie Gandit in the reactivation of artistic pieces as part of lectures.
« To collect a gesture » confronts these authors in several ways, as writing -bodies, movements, objects- lies at the center of their preoccupations and the institutions they head, in a search for different ways to archive, distribute, share, and have others experience these processes.
BIOGRAPHIES
Boris CHARMATZ
Dancer and choreographer Boris Charmatz (b. 1973) received his training from the École de Danse of the Opéra de Paris and from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Lyons. After working with Régine Chopinot and Odile Duboc, among others, he founded the association Edna with Dimitri Chamblas in 1992. He and Chamblas created À bras le corps and Les Disparates. Charmatz then authored Aatt…enen…tionon (1996), herses (une lente introduction) (1997), Conforts fleuve on texts by John Giorno (1999), Théâtre-élévision, a proposition close to an installation (2002), all of which became landmarks and established his reputation in France and internationally.
Some of his creations involve a patrimonial dimension, but on a prospective mode: Régi (2006) was conceived around the figure of Raimund Hoghe; La Danseuse malade (2008), a duet with Jeanne Balibar, was an adaptation of texts by Tatsumi Hijikata, the founder of butô; and 50 ans de danse(2009) was created with former dancers of the Merce Cunningham Company.
From 1997 on, the association Edna made it possible for Boris Charmatz to grow many projects with a collective dimension: films, installations, exhibitions, trans-disciplinary projects… From 2002 to 2004, he developed the Bocal project at the CND (the French National Dance Center): a nomadic and ephemeral school, Bocal originated in his thoughts on a pedagogy in action. As a visiting professor at the Universität der Künste in Berlin, he collaborated on the development of a new dance curriculum.
Boris Charmatz is also continuing his activity of improvisation, notably with Médéric Collignon, Saul Williams, Archie Shepp. He also performs for Odile Duboc, Fanny de Chaillé, Pierre Alféri, Meg Stuart…
He is the co-author (with Isabelle Launay) of Entretenir – À propos d’une danse contemporaine (CND/Les Presses du réel, 2003) ; and of Je suis une école (Les Prairies Ordinaires, 2009).
Since 2009 he has been the director of the Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne – Musée de la Danse. He was an associate artist at the 2011 Festival d’Avignon, where two of his pieces were presented, Enfant and a re-creation of Levée des conflits.
Béatrice JOSSE
After studies in law and art history, Béatrice Josse became the head of the FRAC Lorraine in Metz in 1993. The structure, initially without its own exhibition space, spurred her to develop urban actions in public space, large art productions (Tadashi Kawamata in 1998 or Krijn de Koning in 2001), and thematic exhibitions most often related to political and poetic subjects (L’Esthétique des pôles, L’Uchronie, or Les Prophéties apocalyptiques). The FRAC Lorraine – 49 Nord 6 Est is currently presenting an exhibition, Le Moins du monde, which features works experimenting with sensible and auditory propositions around the idea of meditation. Each exhibition offers multidisciplinary programs that echo its theme. The FRAC also welcomes resident art critics from all over the world.
The specificity of the collection of the FRAC Lorraine owes much to Béatrice Josse, as she privileged forms which until then were little represented in public collections and included a high proportion of female artists. Some pieces consist in the purchase of performance protocols (Dora Garcia, Esther Ferrer), copyrights for films (Marguerite Duras, Chantal Akerman), or conceptual works, thus constituting a geographic and mental territory. Literature is also part of the collection, as shown in the commission given in 2004 to writer Thierry Hesse on the occasion of the building’s inauguration: the result was Le Roman de Saint-Livier en 49 chapitres + 6. Strongly structured around performance, Béatrice Josse’s work also takes the form of conferences, articles, contributions, and involves a strong commitment to hybrid forms. In 2011, on the occasion of the Festival Trouble aux Halles in Schaerbeek (Brussels), Béatrice Josse and performer Aurélie Gandit thus took to activating a protocolar work by Nina Beier and Marie Lund owned by the FRAC.
