DANCE
FIRST
THINK
LATER

AN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN DANCE, PERFORMANCE AND VISUAL ARTS
15.09–09.10.2022

SECOND EDITION

Le Commun + Pavillon ADC + Cinémas du Grütli

Opening at Le Commun
Thursday 15 September 2022, 6 pm

Exhibition at Le Commun
From 16 September to 9 October 2022, Tue-Sun 11am-6pm, free admission

Performances at Le Commun and at Pavillon ADC, films at Cinémas du Grütli (programme below)



Alice Anderson


Works on display

Ecosystem Processes, Calder’s Door, 2019
consisting of:

Data Architecture

The Ritual of Shapes

Architecture dansée

Installation comprising 3 entities made in relation with the door of the Atelier Calder in Saché (France):

The Ritual of Shapes, ritualisation by painting of the 24 elements reconstituting the door of the Atelier Calder, gouache, recycled canvas, 3 x 10 m

Data Architecture, reproduction in wood and memorisation with wire of the 24 elements, wood, eco-friendly copper-plated metal wire, variable dimensions according to the installation

Architecture dansée, video, 2’, on small screen.

First public presentation of the work

Le Commun

free admission


Presentation

The work is emblematic of Alice Anderson’s approach, for whom “dancing is finding the Nature that is within.” She immersed herself in the Atelier Calder, and in particular its door, through unique choreography that generated a painting that she describes as a “Geometric Dance,” comprising the prints of 24 elements that reproduce those that make up the door. She then memorises these objects by covering them meticulously with copper wire, the oldest metal used by man, which is conductive, notably of the Internet. Her work, fuelled as much by ancestral rituals as by new technologies, weaves links between life and matter, human and non-human.

Biographical note

Alice Anderson, GB/FR, 1972, is based in London. Training at Goldsmith College in London and at Beaux-Arts de Paris. Exhibitions at Centre Pompidou, Paris (Réseaux-Monde – Mutations créations 5, 2022 ; Prix Marcel Duchamp, 2020 ; In Vivo, 2017) ; Musée d’Art Moderne, Fontevraud ; Patinoire Royale, Brussels (2021) ; Fluxus Art Projects, London (2020) ; Drawing Room, London (2017) ; Saatchi Gallery, London ; Royal Academy of Arts, London (2016) ; Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton ; Paris (2015) ; 55th Venice Biennial (2013) ; Whitechapel Gallery, London (2012)



Marco Berrettini
+
Yan Li


Performance

15.09.2022
20h

16.09.2022
18h

S’entraîner les dents, 2020
performance, 50’

Performance conceived and orchestrated by Marco Berrettini, with Fabio Bergamaschi, Wanda Bernasconi, Billy Blast, Isabelle Chladek, Pauline Corvellec, Sissy Duparc, Dora Fournier, Jean-Rémy Hamoniaux, Nathalie Clovis Monbaron, Luca Rizzo, Martin Roehrich, Anne Rosset, Alice Roudaire, in front of Yan Li’s paintings on the wall.

Stage management and lights Denis Gobin / Sound David Chesne

Coproduction: Compagnie *Melk Prod + Arta Sperto. Administration and distribution: Pauline Coppée – Tutu Production.

This performance was created in 2020 for a carte blanche to Marco Berrettini at the Ménagerie de verre in Paris, with 18 performers.

Swiss premiere.

Le Commun

free admission


Presentation

Marco Berrettini is a choreographer who is as whimsical as he is political. This performance is based on the theme developed by the painter Yan Li, i.e., “training” one’s teeth. Berrettini develops a choreographic method that refers to Jackson Pollock, whose expressionist-abstract painting has long inspired him. He seeks to create works that move from the concrete to the abstract, and from the abstract to the concrete, giving the performers a framework through the hanging of the paintings, the soundtrack and the dramaturgy. He compares the project to “eating a banana from both ends simultaneously to find the balance in the middle.”

Biographical notes

Marco Berrettini, IT/CH, 1963, is based in Geneva. He won the German disco dance championship in 1978. Trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance and the Folkwangschulen Essen (directed by Hans Züllig and Pina Bausch), in European ethnology, cultural anthropology and theatre studies. He has produced some thirty shows, including Sorry, do the tour (2001), No Paraderan (2007), iFeel 1 to 4 (2009-2017), My soul is my Visa (2018) and is working on My Epifunny (2022).

Yan Li, CN, was born in 1988 Chaoyang, is based in Grenoble. Training at the Academy of Fine Arts, Luxun, École Média Art, Chalon-sur-Saône, École d’Art et Design, Grenoble. Exhibitions at CRAC Alsace, Altkirch (2021); Ménagerie de verre, Paris (2020).



Lara Dâmaso


Works on display

Echolocations, 2022
video projected in large format, sound

Featuring: Lara Dâmaso, Tarren Johnson, Titilayo Adebayo / Camera: Mathilde Agius / Sound: Rosa Noviello / Editing: Lara Dâmaso / Costumes: Marcelo Alcaide / Styling assistant and camera: Londry Samuel / Support: City of Zurich Culture / Coproduction: Arta Sperto

New work, first public presentation

Le Commun

free admission


Presentation

Lara Dâmaso’s main medium is the body, more particularly the voice, whose expressive, therapeutic and political potential she explores. More than a tool for enunciating the intellect, its setting in motion, closely linked to that of the body, is more a matter of sensitive experience than reason. Echolocations is a video shot in the Grisons Alps. Lara Dâmaso, Tarren Johnson and Titilayo Adbayo take turns dancing and activating their voices. It is clear that movements and sounds come from the same bodily impulses. Between singing and shouting, the voices accompany the gestures, composing a sort of ritual that responds to each other as much as they multiply in echo in the very mineral environment of the mountain.

Biographical note

Lara Dâmaso, CH, 1996, is based in Zurich. Training at HGB, Leipzig and at ZHDK, Zurich. Exhibitions-performances at Krone Couronne, Bienne; Istituto Svizzero, Milan (2022); HITStories, HIT, Geneva; Swiss Performance Art Award, Lockremise, St-Gall; Les Urbaines, Lausanne; Kunsthaus Langenthal (2021); Kunsthalle, Zurich; Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich (2020). She is working on her first stage play for Gessnerallee, Zurich, in 2023.



Manon de Boer
+
Latifa Laâbissi


Film

06.10.2022
19h

Film evening with Parade by Shahryar Nashat, followed by a discussion between Manon de Boer, Latifa Laâbissi and Adam Linder, moderated by Olivier Kaeser

Persona, 2022
video, 31’

Concept and design of the figure in Écran Somnambule (2012): Nadia Lauro / Director of photography: Léo Lefèvre / Camera assistant: Alexandre Cabanne / Grip: Corentin Geisen / Lighting: Thomas Bojan & Ludovic Rivière / Sound recording, editing and mixing: Laszlo Umbreit / Editing: Manon de Boer / Calibration: Paul Millot at Cobalt / Production: Auguste Orts & Figure Project / Support: Flemish Audiovisual Fund, BUDA Arts Centre


Presentation

In 2016 artist and filmmaker Manon de Boer and choreographer and dancer Latifa Laâbissi began an ongoing dialogue, which brought out conversation as a working tool and a performative form. Persona is a cinematic look by de Boer at Écran Somnambule (2012), a performance by Laâbissi, which is in turn based on a short clip from Mary Wigman’s Witch’s Dance (1926), a major solo in the history of German expressionism and dance. The physical experience of the disruptive power of the masked figure from the 1920s is reinterpreted in extended temporality and transmitted in a circular camera movement. Trance is transformed into meditation.

Biographical notes

Manon de Boer and Latifa Laâbissi presented their joint work (Ghost Party 1 & 2) at FRAC Bretagne and the Théâtre National de Bretagne, Rennes; Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle (2022); Wiels, Brussels (2021).

Manon de Boer, BE, 1966, is based in Brussels. Training at the Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam and at the Rijksakademie, Amsterdam. Exhibitions at Kunstmuseum St-Gallen; Kunsthal, Aarhus (2022); Museu Calouste Gulbekian, Lisbon (2020); Kanal-Centre Pompidou, Brussels; LUX, London; National Gallery, Prague; Matadero, Madrid (2019); Secession, Vienna; Biennale de Taipei (2016); Documenta, Cassel (2012); Biennial of São Paulo (2010)

Latifa Laâbissi, FR, 1964, is based in Paris. Training in France and at the Cunningham Studio in New York. Creation of Fugitive Archives (2022). Other collaborations: with Marcelo Evelin, La nuit tombe quand elle veut (2021), Festival d’automne, Paris; TNB, Rennes, etc. / with Werner Hirsch: Speak White, Bling Blings, qui sommes-nous ? And to be continued… (2021), Centre Pompidou, Paris / with Antonia Baer and in an installation by Nadia Lauro, Consul et Meshie (2019), Ménagerie de verre, Paris; HAU Hebel am Ufer, Berlin; far, Nyon, etc. / Recent pieces: White Dog (2019), Festival de Marseille, Festival d’automne, Paris; CCn2, Grenoble, etc.; Witch Noises (2018), kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels; Charleroi Danse; CCN Bourgogne Franche Comté, Belfort, etc.



Agnès Geoffray


Works on display

Pièces à conviction, 2015
series of 10 photographs, pigment print on museum paper mounted on aluminium, 20 × 30 cm each

Choreographic Writing, 2019
object, rolled cotton fabric, typed text, 100 m

Les impassibles, 2018
series of 8 photographs, 22 x 30.5 cm + 1 photograph 60 x 40 cm, framed

Choreography 1, 2016
2 x 40 slides on carousel

Le Commun

free admission


Presentation

The selection of works condenses Agnès Geoffray’s research into gestures and their ambivalence. She explores a range of postures from a heterogeneous repertoire, whether intimate, historical, pictorial, medical or vernacular. By challenging archetypes, she invites us to rethink the gestures of the human body, reflect on their meanings, and reconsider our memory. She reveals their poetic and political dimension through choreographic reflection that underpins her photographs.

Biographical note

Agnès Geoffray, FR, 1973, is based in Paris. Training at Beaux-arts, Lyon and Paris. Solo exhibitions at FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand (2020) ; Les Brasseurs, Liège (2019) ; Centre photographique Île-de-France, Pontault-Combault (2017). Group exhibitions at Kunsthalle Appenzel ; Biennale de Mulhouse ; Centre d’art Les Tanneries, Amilly (2022) ; FRAC Franche Comté, Besançon (2021, 2019) ; Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019) ; Rencontres de la photographie, Arles (2017) ; Jeu de Paume, Paris ; Centre Pompidou, Metz (2016) ; Musée de l’Elysée (now Photo Elysée), Lausanne (2015).



Zuzana Kakalikova


Performance

29.09.2022
19h

30.09.2022
19h

Am I in the picture?, 2021
solo choreography, 50’

Concept, choreography, performance: Zuzana Kakalikova / Artistic collaboration: Nina Negri & Racha Baroud / Musical composition: Julie Semoroz / Scenography: Neda Loncarevic / Dramaturgy: Valentine Paley / Outside eye: Alexandra Kazazou / Administration-Production: Mariana Nunes & Ars Longa / Lighting & stage management: Justine Bouillet / Production: Compagnie TDU / Co-production: fOrum culture / Support: Republic and Canton of Jura, Loterie Romande, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Fondation Emilie Gourd, Corodis, Fondation Engelberts, City of Delémont, Fondation Loisir Casino, Malévoz Résidence quartier culturel, Pro Helvetia – Swiss Arts Council.

Le Commun

free admission


Presentation

In 2017 the year of the #Metoo and Cierny piontek (“Black Friday” in Poland) movements, Zuzana Kakalikova initiated a reflection on her image, her place, her relationship with space and places as a woman. She immerses herself in the work of Francesca Woodman (1958-1981), an emancipated American artist known for her disturbing, ambivalent, and timeless photographs in which she often stages herself. Kakalikova transposes Woodman’s approach into a performative language. At a time when feminist gains are under threat, she questions, with this first solo, the image of women and the way we look at them, creating living tableaux with a strong visual and symbolic impact.

Biographical note

Zuzana Kakalikova, SK/CH, 1982, is based in Lausanne.Training in dramatic arts in Bratislava and at Scuola Teatro Dimitri in Verscio. Co-founder of the company TDU with Guillaumarc Froidevaux in 2008 in Switzerland. Founding member of Studio Matejka in 2010, in residency during 3 years at the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw. Back in Switzerland in 2015, choreographer and performer of Brefs entretiens avec des hommes hideux (staging by Guillaumarc Froidevaux), M. la multiple (staging by Nina Negri), both at Théâtre de Vidy Lausanne (2019). Teaching at Teintureries, Lausanne, from 2020. Upcoming stage piece with visual artist Maya Rochat for the Petit Théâtre in Lausanne (2022).



Isabel Lewis
and
collaborators

+
The Field


Performance

01.10.2022
19h


02.10.2022
18h

Scalable Skeletal Escalator, 2022
stage version

Concept: Isabel Lewis / Performers: The Field (Lucia Gugerli, Pierre Piton, Mirjam Jamuna Zweifel), Rafał Pierzyński / Custom speaker system: Dirk Bell, Mo Stern / Costume design: Yolanda Zobel, Marcelo Alcaide / Music: LABOUR (Colin Hacklander and Farahnaz Hatam) / Smell: Sissel Tolaas / Artwork: Matthew Lutz-Kinoy (courtesy of Kamel Mennour – Fitzpatrick Gallery – Mendes Wood DM) / Set design: Isabel Lewis, Dirk Bell / Tanzhaus Zurich dramaturgical advisors: Simon Froehlich, Lea Moro / Production manager Isabel Lewis Studio: Stefania Palumbo / Production manager The Field: Leslie Philbert, and artistic collaboration Marisa Godoy, Romain Guion / Photos: Maxi Schmitz / Coproduction: Tanzhaus Zürich, Kunsthalle Zürich, Callie’s Berlin / Support: BNP Paribas Foundation Switzerland (main partner The Field), City of Zurich Culture, Nestlé Foundation for the Arts (partnership The Field), Migros Culture Percentage, Ernst Göhner Foundation, Landys & Gyr Foundation, Department of Culture of the Canton of Zurich, BNP Paribas Corporate Philanthropy

Pavillon ADC

bookings – tickets

Realised in collaboration with Pavillon ADC


Presentation

Scalable Skeletal Escalator (SSE) is an experimental artwork designed in the form of a holobiont, a multiple organic assemblage, like the human body, shaking and shivering with life. This way of creating is inspired by evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis, who refers to cooperative and symbiotic relationships between species as the driving force of evolution. In her projects, Isabel Lewis challenges the disembodied systems of thought in the West. SSE continues this practice by inviting collaborators and visitors to participatory epistemological research to discover the body, activated by all its senses. SSE was created as a living exhibition and adapted to the stage.

Biographical notes

Isabel Lewis, born in 1981 in Dominican Republic, is based in Berlin. She has lived in New York where her work has been showed at The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, New Museum Movement Research at Judson Church, Dancespace Project at St. Mark’s Church or PS 122. Exhibitions/performances at Art Night, London (2021); Kunsthalle, Zurich (2020); Sharjah Biennial; Elevation 1049, Gstaad; Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin; Kunsthalle Mainz; Swiss Salon, Venice Biennial; Roskilde Festival (2019); Steirischer Herbst, Graz; Tate Modern, London (2017); Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai; Dia Art Foundation, New York (2016); Tanz im August, Berlin (2015); Liverpool Biennial; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Göteborg Biennial (2015); BIM, Centre d’art contemporain, Geneva (2014).

The Field, CH, a collective founded in 2019, is based in Zurich. This hybrid and open structure cultivates different kinds of collaborations in dance and performance. The Field is resident at Tanzhaus Zurich.



Adam Linder


Performances

06.10.2022
15-18h

07.10.2022
15-18h

08.10.2022
15-18h

09.10.2022
15-18h

Shelf Life: Barre Forever & Some Brain, 2022
ongoing performance, 3h

Performers: Leah Katz, Adam Linder, Mickey Mahar, Brooke Stamp. Shelf Life was commissioned by MoMA New York and presented at Kravis Studio in 2020, alternating with Shahryar Nashat’s Force Life. A second iteration, Shelf Life (blood/barre/brain/cells) was presented at Serralves in Porto in 2022. Shelf Life: Barre Forever & Some Brain is the third iteration, designed for DFTL at Le Commun.

Swiss premiere

Le Commun

free admission


Presentation

Choreographer Adam Linder works for theatre stages and exhibition venues. His works focus on experimentation and the re-articulation of dance and performing art forms, genres and contexts, using text, costume, sound and film. His work is inspired by Lynn Margulis’ theories that life is an autopoietic system where the biosphere and technosphere intertwine. Shelf Life is a performance originally designed around three elements: the bar, blood and the brain. These choreographic organs work with each other and with architecture to produce a metaphorical nervous system for dance. The Geneva version focuses on the synchronisation and differentiation of three people on the bars, with the physical counterpoint of the brain moving through the space in an animal incarnation. A dialogue emerges between this thinking and analysing brain figure and the choral presence of the bars.

Biographical note

Adam Linder, AU, 1983, is currently in residency in Paris. Trained in classical dance, he has worked at The Royal Ballet in London, in the Michael Clark Company and at Meg Stuart. Among his stage pieces, Loyalty, Tanz im August, Berlin; De Singel, Anvers; Dampfzentrale, Bern (upcoming 2022) and Kampnagel, Hamburg (2021) or Kein Paradiso, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016). He participated in Liverpool Biennial; Sydney Biennial (2016). His Choreographical Services have been showed at Mudam, Luxembourg (2019); Fondation Serralves, Porto (2018); South London Gallery, London (2018); Kunsthalle, Basel (2017); Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2016); ICA, London (2015).



Shahryar Nashat


Film

06.10.2022
19h

Film evening with Persona by Manon de Boer and Latifa Laâbissi, followed by a discussion between Manon de Boer, Latifa Laâbissi and Adam Linder, moderated by Olivier Kaeser

Parade, 2014
video, colour, dolby digital, 38’

Featuring Delphine Gaborit, Kotomi Nishiwaki, Adam Linder / Director of photography: Gaëtan Varone / Sound: Stéphane Brunclair / Based on choreography by Adam Linder / Support: HAU Hebbel am Ufer and ARRI, Berlin


Presentation

The human body and its representations play a central role in Shahryar Nashat’s sculptures and videos. He questions the very experience of what it means to be a body in an age where technologies are filters that induce fragmentation and distance. Desire, mortality, fragility, and resilience are among his favourite themes. Parade is Nashat’s film interpretation of Adam Linder’s choreography (2014), which itself is a reinterpretation of the famous ballet Parade (1917) written by Jean Cocteau for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, with music by Erik Satie, scenography by Pablo Picasso, and choreography by Leonid Massine. The adaptation is based on a publicity parade of three artists in front of a theatre. In order to survive, the artists must constantly promote themselves. Through framing, editing, and sound, Nashat transforms a dance work into an original and autonomous video.

Biographical note

Shahryar Nashat, born in 1975 in Geneva, is based in Los Angeles. Training at ESBA (now HEAD), Geneva and Rijksakademie, Amsterdam. Solo exhibition at Art Institute, Chicago (upcoming 2022); MoMA, New York (2020); Swiss Institute, New York; National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhaguen (2019); Kunsthalle, Basel (2017); Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin; Portikus, Francfort (2016); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2014). He also exhibited at Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau (2021); Kunst Museum, Winterthour (2020); Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; MAM, Paris (2019); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018); La Casa Encendida, Madrid (2017); Biennale de Montréal; Sydney Biennial (2016); Berlin Biennale (2014).



Ceylan Öztrük


Performances

22.09.2022
20h

23.09.2022
20h

Orientalien, 2020
performance, 55’

Concept, direction, set design, performance: Ceylan Öztrük / Performance: Schirin Ghazivakilli / Conceptual collaboration: Felizitas Stilleke / Dramaturgical advice: Mona De Weerdt / Choreographic advice, sound design: Manuel Scheiwiller / Costumes and styling: Laura Beham & Angela Thurnherr / Lighting, technical, stage design collaboration: Iris Rohr / Production: Oliver Roth / Outside eye: Teresa Vittucci / Translation: Miriam Laura Leonardi / Text editing: Merve Ünsal / Musical arrangement: Leilaa Moon / Coproduction: Gessnerallee Zurich

Pavillon ADC

bookings – tickets

Realised in collaboration with Pavillon ADC


Presentation

In her multidisciplinary art practice, Ceylan Öztrük seeks to transform existing situations and settings. For her exhibitions, she designs sculptures, installs lighting devices, and sometimes writes texts. The visit is as much a spatiotemporal experience that combines the sensory and the reflexive, as it is a questioning of the production of knowledge, and its use on both a poetic and political level.

In Orientalien, Öztrük tells the story of adoption, self-transformation and the embodiment of otherness through a self-theoretical performance. Delving into the roots and meanings of the words “orient” and “orientation,” she asks: how does being an oriental foreigner orientate the body? From alienation to orientalism, this performance presents oriental dance (a term historically used to describe belly dancing) in an existential experience within a set design of mirrors and lights.

Biographical note

Ceylan Öztrük, born in 1984 in Ankara, is based in Zurich from 2016. Training at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts Univesity Istanbul. Orientalien has been presented at Frascati, Amsterdam (2022); Bone Festival, Bern (2021); Gessnerallee, Zurich (2020); Oriental Demo (preparatory performance for Orientalien) has been presented at Steakhouse Live, London (2020) ; My Wild Flag, Stockholm (2019) ; Les Urbaines, Lausanne (2018). Exhibitions at Sculpture Garden, Geneva (2022) ; Fri-Art, Fribourg (2021) ; Longtang, Zurich (2020) ; 4 Berliner Herbstsalon – De-Heimatize it, Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin (2019) ; 1.1, Basel (2018) ; Kunsthalle, Zurich (2018) ; Oslo10, Basel (2017) ; Special Moments, Zurich (2016) ; Mars, Istanbul (2016).



Samuel Pajand
+
Cosima Grand


Performance

20.09.2022
20h

21.09.2022
20h

Pleased to meet you, 2022
performance, 50’

Concept: Samuel Pajand. Composition and performance: Samuel Pajand (guitar) and Cosima Grand (dance), in relation to Samuel Pajand’s sculpture/partition, 57 points de rencontres, 2022. Coproduction Arta Sperto.

Creation

Le Commun

free admission

Work on display

57 points de rencontres, 2022
acrylic paint on 80 × 80 cm birch plywood panel, surrounded by an iron circle and traversed by 108 nails and 56 jute threads, 113 cm diameter × 5 cm

The work will be on display in the DFTL exhibition from the opening on 15 September until 29 September 2022. From 1 to 31 October, it will be presented at the Collège Calvin, as part of the 3rd Biennial of the heART@geneva course. More information on heartgeneva.ch.

Le Commun

free admission


Presentation

Pleased to Meet You is the meeting of a dancer, a musician, and a sculpture, considered as a score to be transposed into sounds and movements. The game of Dobble and its ancestor, Jacques Cottereau’s “game of insects,” are observation and speed card games that have a particularity: if you take two cards at random, you always find a symbol in common. Pajand seeks to understand how to reconstruct this game and discover projective geometry, where there is an infinite straight line formed by the set of meeting points of parallel straight lines. His sculpture 57 Points de Rencontre is a “representation” of the way the game is constructed, first designed for the heart@geneva art trail, then as an input for Pleased to Meet You. Samuel Pajand and Cosima Grand have already worked together on the dialogue around their practices, music and dance.

Biographical notes

Samuel Pajand, CH/FR, 1977, is based in Geneva. Multi-instrumentalist, he has worked as a sound designer in France with Joris Lacoste, Judith Depaule, Vincent Macaigne, Claudia Triozzi, or Marta Izquierdo, then as musician, composer, and performer with Marco Berrettini, 2B company, Cindy Van Acker, Marie-Caroline Hominal, or Julia Perrazzini. Since 2017, he has created multidisciplinary projects with scenographer Victor Roy, set up a rock band Lovesong(s) in 2019, and created his first visual art work, L’horloge de l’amour, in 2020.

Samuel Pajand, CH/FR, 1977, is based in Geneva. Multi-instrumentalist, he has worked as a sound designer in France with Joris Lacoste, Judith Depaule, Vincent Macaigne, Claudia Triozzi, or Marta Izquierdo, then as musician, composer, and performer with Marco Berrettini, 2B company, Cindy Van Acker, Marie-Caroline Hominal, or Julia Perrazzini. Since 2017, he has created multidisciplinary projects with scenographer Victor Roy, set up a rock band Lovesong(s) in 2019, and created his first visual art work, L’horloge de l’amour, in 2020.



Emilie Pitoiset


Works on display

Tainted Love, 2017-2022
digital pigment prints, various formats, selection of photographs

Not Yet Titled #8, 2020
bomber jackets, tyre punctures, anti-theft devices for clothes, jogging suits, hoodies, 166 x 79 x 120 cm
Inv.: FNAC 2022-0065

Not Yet Titled #2, 2017
painted jeans, cigarette patches, acrylic paint, hood, painted metal, 126 x 73 x 79 cm
Inv.: FNAC 2021-0486

Sweat core pulls up tonic dreams, 2022, adhesive, variable dimensions

Le Commun

free admission


Presentation

Emilie Pitoiset’s work deals with the resistance of bodies through dance, clubbing, sport, sexuality, money … all alienating symptoms and vehicles of fantasy. She is interested in the dance marathons of the Great Depression in the United States, a competition where couples danced for money for hours until they were exhausted. Analysing the movement of bodies through the political crises of the 20th and 21st centuries, she highlights the hardening of social and intimate relationships, a harbinger of our neoliberal era. She takes photographs of the period and modifies them by adding lines of force. She creates sculptures that revisit certain postures, represented by simple metal rods, and covers them with very contemporary customised clothing. On the wall, she composes giant captchas, which transform this language used for computer security into slogans encouraging the cult of the body (appearance, extreme sports) to the point of absurdity.

Biographical note

Emilie Pitoiset, FR, 1980, is based in Paris. Training at University Paris 8 and at Beaux-Arts de Paris. Exhibitions/performances at Kunsthaus, Hambourg (2022) ; Festival Playground, Skuk and M Museum, Leuven (2021) ; Klemm’s, Berlin (2020) ; Château de Rochechouart (2020) ; CND, Pantin ; Festival Move, Centre Pompidou, Paris ; Villa Arson, Nice ; Printemps de septembre, Toulouse (2019) ; Confort Moderne, Poitiers (2017) ; Shirn Kunsthalle, Francfort (2015).



Davide-Chistelle Sanvee


Performances

16.09.2022
20h


17.09.2022
19h


18.09.2022
18h

À notre place
installation-performance, 55’

Concept, direction and performance: Davide-Christelle Sanvee / Models: Aurélien Reymond / Sound creation: Chienne de garde / Video creation: Antonin Ivanidze / Costume assistance: Doria Gomez Rosay / Production: Association Elayi / Coproduction: Pavillon ADC, Arta Sperto / Administration: Ars Longa Agency / Support: Fonds cantonal d’art contemporain, DCS, Geneva.

Creation

Pavillon ADC

bookings – tickets

Realised in collaboration with Pavillon ADC


Presentation

Davide-Christelle Sanvee’s physical and plastic work often uses infiltration and camouflage.

In 2019 for the Swiss Performance Award at the Aargauer Kunsthaus in Aarau, she initiated a concept that intertwines reflections on the architectural context and history of the institution, with elements of her biography. She has developed this method in different contexts and will adapt it to the Pavillon ADC. She has discussed it with the team, immersed herself in the archives, and will weave parallels between architecture and social and political reflections. In a first step, she will activate an installation of several models of the building in the foyer, before performing stages of her integration process on stage. Dance, architecture, storytelling, and poetry will be the components of this site-specific creation.

Biographical note

Davide-Christelle Sanvee, TG/CH, 1993, is based in Geneva. Training at HEAD, Geneva, and at Sandberg Institut, Amsterdam. She most often designs her performances specifically for a context: Museum Tinguely, Basel (2022); Belluard, Fribourg; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Swiss Salon, Biennial of Architecture, Venice; Tunnel Tunnel, Lausanne (2021); e-flux, New York; Duplex, Geneva; Fondation Ricard, Paris (2020); Swiss Performance Art Award, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau (2019).



Ulla von Brandenburg


Works on display

Feste Erde, Flüssiger Wind, 2021
video, 10’20’; curtains; archives

Super 16 mm film transferred to HD video, colour, sound, 10’2” (loop) / Director: Ulla von Brandenburg / Director of photography: Laurent Coltelloni / First camera assistant: Mathias Sabourdin / Executive producer: Julia Mossé / Choreography: Lina Schlageter / Performers: Larissa Emi, Duncan Evennou, Oli Funes Lastra, Bianca Iannuzi, Corentin Le Flohic, Fabricia Martins, Laurence Mayor, Giuseppe Molino, Julia Mossé, Benoit Résillot, Lina Schlageter / Catering: Julien Crépieux / Production assistant: Jonas Rehren / Editing and colour grading: Alexandre Westphal / Sound engineer: Olivier Pelletier / Post Production: Julien Crépieux / Music: Ulla von Brandenburg, Olivier Pelletier, Julia Mossé / Laboratory: Hiventy, Joinville-Le-Pont / Equipment: Kodak France, Groupe TSF / Support: Meyer Riegger (Berlin/Karlsruhe); Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen; Direction régionale des affaires culturelles Hauts de France; Aide individuelle à la création année 2021 / With the permission of the artist and Art: Concept, Paris; Meyer Riegger, Berlin-Karlsruhe; Pilar Corrias Gallery, London; Produzentengalerie, Hamburg.

Projection in an environment made up of multicoloured curtains, designed specifically for Le Commun / Selection of archives and objects from the artist’s collection, presented in glass cases.

Le Commun

free admission


Presentation

In her films, installations, quilts, watercolours, collages and performances, Ulla von Brandenburg draws on the worlds of theatre, dance and painting, subverting their conventions and determining new rules of play. The film Feste Erde, Flüssiger Wind (Firm Earth, Liquid Wind) follows the dancers as they make a round before exploring their different positions and movements, between ritual dance and living tableaux. This research offers the experience of living together where the individual retains a place and a unique role while being fully part of a group. Recently, the artist has begun to exhibit her archives (masks, old books, preparatory drawings, ribbons, fragments of models, reproductions of images) which form a constellation of visual references related to dance and trance, emotion, and movement.

Biographical note

Ulla von Brandenburg, DE/FR, born in Karlsruhe in 1974, is based in Paris. Training in scenography in Karlsruhe and at Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg, she moved to Paris in 2005. In 2022, she presents stage projects at Staatsoper in Stuttgart and at Wiener Festwochen in Vienna. Exhibitions: Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart (2022); Museum für Moderne Kunst Weseburg, Bremen (2021); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2020); MRAC, Sérignan (2019); Whitechapel Gallery, London; Musée Jenisch, Vevey; Kunstmuseum, Bonn (2018); Kircher Cultural Center, Buenos Aires (2017); Prix Marcel Duchamp, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Perez Art Museum, Miami; Contemporary Art Museum, Saint Louis (2016).



Performances + films

15.09.2022
20h

16.09.2022
18h

Marco Berrettini + Yan Li + 15 performers
S’entraîner les dents

Le Commun
10 rue des Vieux Grenadiers
Bâtiment J
1205 Genève

free admission


16.09.2022
20h

17.09.2022
19h

18.09.2022
18h

Davide-Christelle Sanvee
À notre place

Pavillon ADC
1 place Sturm
1206 Genève

bookings – tickets


20.09.2022
20h

21.09.2022
20h

Samuel Pajand + Cosima Grand
Pleased to meet you

Le Commun
10 rue des Vieux Grenadiers
Bâtiment J
1205 Genève

free admission


22.09.2022
20h

23.09.2022
20h

Ceylan Öztrük
Orientalien

Pavillon ADC
1 place Sturm
1206 Genève

bookings – tickets


29.09.2022
19h

30.09.2022
19h

Zuzana Kakalikova
Am I in the picture?

Le Commun
10 rue des Vieux Grenadiers
Bâtiment J
1205 Genève

free admission


01.10.2022
19h

02.10.2022
18h

Isabel Lewis and coll. + The Field
Scalable Skeletal Escalator (stage version)

Pavillon ADC
1 place Sturm
1206 Genève

bookings – tickets


06.10.2022
19h

Shahryar Nashat
Parade (2014, 38′)

Manon de Boer + Latifa Laâbissi
Persona (2022, 31′)

Screening followed by a discussion with Manon de Boer, Latifa Laâbissi, Adam Linder, moderated by Olivier Kaeser

Les Cinémas du Grütli
16 rue du Général-Dufour
1204 Genève

bookings – tickets


06.10.2022
15-18h

07.10.2022
15-18h

08.10.2022
15-18h

09.10.2022
15-18h

Adam Linder
Shelf Life: Barre Forever & Some Brain

Le Commun
10 rue des Vieux Grenadiers
Bâtiment J
1205 Genève

free admission


Projet presentation

In summer 2020, Dance First Think Later – An encounter between dance and visual arts was presented at Le Commun. Some performances were produced in collaboration with La Bâtie, ADC, MAMCO, the Museum of Art and History and Cinéma Spoutnik. This exhibition/festival is emblematic of the intentions of Arta Sperto, an organisation for curating, producing, organising and publishing multi- and trans-disciplinary artistic projects, which, not having a fixed location, designs its projects in collaboration with cultural partners or in the public space.

Dance First Think Later was understood by many people as a festival and they asked when the next event would take place. I thought about this perspective and was convinced that it made sense. The project charts artistic terrain at the edge of dance, performance and visual arts, fields that feed off each other but operate through very different mechanisms of production and presentation. At the heart of the project is dance, i.e. the gestures and movement of the human body, their meanings and interpretations in different cultures, and how they are considered through various prisms, cultural, sensual, political, social, ritual, technological, gender-related … This is a very rich artistic field, with multiple issues and perspectives that allow for the development of approaches and experiences potentially over several years.

After more than 30 years of involvement in the contemporary arts, I feel that there is a need to develop types of events that expand established models, especially through projects where artistic fields fertilise each other. The participants in DFTL are visual artists who work on the subject of dance, who integrate it into their approach or who collaborate with choreographers who design works for exhibition spaces, or performers, or transdisciplinary artists who oscillate between several artistic scenes. At Le Commun there will be material works (installations, videos, sculptures, paintings, objects, photographs) and performances designed for exhibition spaces. The Pavillon ADC will host stage works by visual and performing artists, and Cinémas du Grütli will screen films by artists working with choreographers.

Multi- and transdisciplinarity is not an end in itself, but an open field for perceiving and questioning the world today. Movement and gesture have specific meanings in all cultures and in many areas of society: politics, diplomacy, sports, the army, communication, social struggles, street demonstrations, rituals … Everywhere, gestures deliver messages, are scrutinised in the media and on social networks, they bring people together or divide them. Moreover, expressions such as “diplomatic ballet”, “political faux pas”, “political posture”, “pas de deux”, “awkward gait”, “crowd movement”, “body language”, “revolutionary gesture”, “inappropriate gesture”, “misunderstood gesture” testify to the fact that words that are notably linked to the vocabulary of choreography are also used in many other fields.

Moreover, I think that the COVID-19 period was very “choreographic”, since we have never been so concerned about the way we move: we unlearned gestures that were natural and learned new ones, we questioned ourselves about compulsory or forbidden gestures and movements. In this way, we have joined, without really being aware of it, the questions and reflections that choreographers develop on the meaning and scope of a given gesture and movement, whether individual or collective. The impact of these reflections and of certain changes in behaviour will probably last for a long time.

The title Dance First Think Later was inspired by a passage from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. As is often the case with this master of the absurd, a sentence turns out to be more complex than it initially appears. This title aims to challenge and capture attention. The keywords Dance and Think and the notion of duration (First and Later) put the thinking body in motion into perspective.

Olivier Kaeser, curator of Dance First Think Later


Partnerships and sponsors

Partner for realisation and production : Pavillon ADC.

Host partner : Cinémas du Grütli.

Dance First Think Later is supported by: City of Geneva, Loterie romande Genève, Fonds cantonal d’art contemporain DCS Genève, Pro Helvetia, Fonds culturel ProLitteris, Service culturel Migros Genève, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Ernst und Olga Gubler-Hablützel Stiftung, Stiftung Corymbo.

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