«Urban Liturgies»
The three screenings in the cycle “Liturgies urbaines” will take place in a private movie theater located at the angle of boulevard Malesherbes and rue Boissy d’Anglas—on September 10 and 25 and on October 10. *
A few days ago, Philippe Vasset released La Conjuration (Fayard), six years after the publication of Un livre blanc, which explored the areas of Paris appearing as blank spaces on maps. The book chronicles the transformation of the edges of the French capital into a kind of free zone for religions, where temples and churches proliferate. It also tells of the narrator’s efforts to create a cult, the “last possible artwork” in his view.
Similarly, several artists have chosen the medium of film or video to explore these places where urban and religious practices mix and merge. The Fondation d’entreprise Ricard is initiating a dialogue between them on the occasion of the publication of Philippe Vasset’s book.
Each film will be introduced by Philippe Vasset and preceded by the short reading of an excerpt from La Conjuration. After each screening, the filmmakers will exchange with Philippe Vasset and the audience. Discussions will bear on the similarities between artistic and religious practices: can a cult be considered as an art project or even an artwork, for instance? Conversely, aren’t some artists very comparable to gurus? Faith as fuel for fiction (apocalyptic narratives, holy texts) will also be considered, among other topics.
SCHEDULE OF SCREENINGS
Tuesday, Sept. 10 : Cool Apocalypse, dir. Florent Tillon (2013, 90’)
Cool Apocalypse draws from the director’s ongoing work on Las Vegas’s eschatological culture, from the Mormons who founded the city to punk bands announcing the apocalypse, from sites for nuclear testing in the Nevada desert to the ecological disaster looming over a place where water shortages are a regular occurrence.
Wednesday, Sept. 25 : Cyborgs dans la brume [Cyborgs in the Mist], dir. Gwenola Wagon and Stéphane Degoutin (2011, 46’)
This documentary fiction focuses on the Laboratoire de Lutte contre l’Obsolescence Programmée de l’Homme, a fictitious research center located in a real place, west of the city of Saint-Denis. Indeed, the center’s address is the Villa Coignet, the first house in the world made entirely of reinforced concrete. In this neighborhood where data farms cohabit with Evangelical churches, the lab—noting the irreversible development of robotics and artificial forms of intelligence—works to provide the human species with the ability to counter its foretold obsolescence.
Thursday, Oct. 10 : “Prophéties” is a program of short films by Alain Della Negra and Kaori Kinoshita, all of which draw on their current work on new spiritual communities: the Rainbow Warriors, WhiteWolf Shaman or Marko Pogacnik, the “Earth Healer.”
*DENTONS : 5 Boulevard Malesherbes, 75008 (à proximité de la Fondation)
