Fiction / Performed readings #6
This new evening is placed under the sign of women. Mai-Thu Perret is adding a new chapter to the history of women’s community « New Ponderosa, » which she has been writing for several years, while Anne Kawala is presenting a new text written like a musical score.
The projection of a video by Détanico & Lain, inspired by Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, will open the evening.
BIOGRAPHIES
Mai-Thu PERRET
Born in Geneva in 1976; lives between Geneva and New York City.
An artist, she studied literature in Cambridge before attending the Whitney Independent Study program in New York City. For several years she has been working on the huge project of documenting the fictitious story of a community of women based in New Mexico. Between ethnography and fiction, she materializes the artifacts of this utopian society, borrowing from popular culture, design, arts and crafts, and literature. Mai-Thu Perret’s work has been exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, the Swiss Institute in New York, the Casino Luxembourg, and the Lyons Biennale.
Her work will be presented in an exhibition at Galerie Praz-Delavallade (Paris) from March 14 to April 18, 2009.
Anne KAWALA
Born in 1980; lives and works in Paris.
« One could say that Anne Kawala was born in 1980 in Herlincourt, northern France, but that wouldn’t be saying much. One could say that she was born in her childhood house (that she says a little bit about in between 114 other poems in her first collection F.aire L.a F.euille, published by Du Clou dans le Fer in 2008), that she was not vaccinated, that she saw fields for ten years. It would explain a few more things: she is not a Parisian, yet you will not see her wearing anything else than high heels. You have to know that she runs in high heels because she is often late. She does not do that during public readings, though (she is not late then, so she doesn’t run): she waves her arms around, gesticulates in a kind of strange choreography, she stands behind a lectern to read a possible translation of her poems, that is, a score composed around texts and visual poems. If her readings mostly take place in contemporary art places (BétonSalon, Point Ephémère…), that’s only because she attended the School of Fine Arts in Lyons and has maintained connections with (contemporary) art. She writes about it in her books because it is the profession of some of her friends and because she likes to write texts halfway between poetry and criticism for them. That is also why she co-edits KazaK, an online periodical, with Sarah Tritz, Emilie Perotto, and Benjamin Hochart. But that doesn’t say everything, either: choreographed gestures elicit collaborations with choreographers, scores elicit collaborations with directors, etc. All this, and other things such as her encounters with X, Y, or Z who told her historical anecdotes, scientific or mathematical facts (if you are thinking Oulipo, say two years in med school), technical details, or other encounters with authors who tell her about authors who tell her about yet other authors, which tells her about people, leads her to make books (Seul rien’existe [« only nothingexists »], Le Clou dans le Fer, forthcoming, 2009). Then she tries to understand. And as it happens, understanding comes as a whole, it does not work as a dichotomy, it is a basket: there are some eggs in it and some outside it. »
Angela DETANICO & Raphaël LAIN
Born in Brazil in 1974 and 1973; both live in Paris.
The two artists have been collaborating since 1996. Their thought is concerned with modes of representation. After studies in linguistics/semiology and graphic design, respectively, they developed a practice at the intersection of art, language, and graphic design.
They recently participated in the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paulo Biennale as well as in the Yokohama Triennale. In France their work has been featured at the Fondation d’Entreprise Ricard, the Jeu de Paume, and the Zadkine museum.
In Paris they are represented by Galerie Martine Aboucaya.
The screening of The Waves was made possible through the support of Le Plateau-frac Ile-de-France.
