Crystalll
09.11.2006 | 30.3.2007, Vooruit, Ghent, Belgium
By Alice Chaucat and Alix Eynaudi
Choreography: Alice Chauchat & Alix Eynaudi
Dance: Alix Eynaudi
Light design: Bruno Pocheron
Set design: Alexander Wolff
Organization: Pauline Roussille
Coproduced by Maska (Ljubljana), Tanzquartier (Vienna) & Dance Theatre of Ljubljana
Supported by: Tanzfabrik (Berlin), Monty (Antwerp), Künstlerinnenhof Die Höge
CRYSTALLL problematises the ornamental function of performance. We call performance's "ornamental function" its formal dimension, its capacity to give visual pleasure in itself, without any other discursive aim than defining aesthetics through its formal properties (ornament then appears as non-useful, freed from representative roles); the ornamental object doesn't represent a concept other than itself but lets itself be contemplated without a link to an absent object. The "spectacular function" is its backside, the ability to bewitch, through which a performance can absorb its audience. The spectacular ornament, without describing another idea than its own being, then implements an aesthetic experience without object. CRYSTALLL is a spectacular ornament that implements critique, not of the stage object but of its perception. We want to produce a double movement for the spectator: attraction, fascination for spectacularity auto-realisation, awareness and wonderment for this state. Both directions are implemented by the same elements, without proposing a critique of the represented object but provoking for the audience to criticize their own gaze. We're interested in a critical relation that doesn't moralise such representations but brings about a doubt between conceptions and experience. Rather than directing all elements in the same direction, CRYSTALLL creates a conflict that doesn’t ask for solutions. CRYSTALLL offers itself to a continuous practice of merging and distancing with/from a spectacular moment.
CRYSTALLL problematises the ornamental function of performance. We call performance's "ornamental function" its formal dimension, its capacity to give visual pleasure in itself, without any other discursive aim than defining aesthetics through its formal properties (ornament then appears as non-useful, freed from representative roles); the ornamental object doesn't represent a concept other than itself but lets itself be contemplated without a link to an absent object. The "spectacular function" is its backside, the ability to bewitch, through which a performance can absorb its audience. The spectacular ornament, without describing another idea than its own being, then implements an aesthetic experience without object. CRYSTALLL is a spectacular ornament that implements critique, not of the stage object but of its perception. We want to produce a double movement for the spectator: attraction, fascination for spectacularity auto-realisation, awareness and wonderment for this state. Both directions are implemented by the same elements, without proposing a critique of the represented object but provoking for the audience to criticize their own gaze. We're interested in a critical relation that doesn't moralise such representations but brings about a doubt between conceptions and experience. Rather than directing all elements in the same direction, CRYSTALLL creates a conflict that doesn’t ask for solutions. CRYSTALLL offers itself to a continuous practice of merging and distancing with/from a spectacular moment.
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CRYSTALLL
scintillates as a jewel in a showcase.
CRYSTALLL
is about decoration and beautification as formalistic strategies.
CRYSTALLL
is a research on the glorification of the body within conventional representations.
Dance, dancer, lights and set are precious, decorative, exotic, objects.
CRYSTALLL
is a solo for a female dancer.
Between attraction for aesthetic experience and rejection of an admirative position,
CRYSTALLL
proposes, without comment, contemplation as a critical experience.
GALLERY VERSION:
Crystalll was created as a black box performance, referring directly to the history of stage representations of female bodies, and using light effects to support the magical appearance of an "unreachable being”. We decided to develop a gallery version, or white box version, to invest more on the object relation proposed by the piece. The equal importance given to the sculptures and the dancer becomes more obvious here, and we intend to keep provoking an admiring gaze for the audience, by means of art objects presentations. We thus invite the spectator to wander around, observing images and situations, and one’s own expectations and relations to beauty, femininity, and a dancer that becomes an object of aesthetic satisfaction.
TEXT OF ALEXANDER WOLFF ABOUT THE SET DESIGN OF CRYSTALLL:
The project is a set of sculptures, which are being developed as stage setting for a dance piece. The sculptures are being produced in an edition of two: one set will go on tour with the dancers,the other is to be shown in an exhibition space. The sculptures are black to be invisible in the black box of a theatre stage. As the sculptures should be transportable yet solid, they could be constructed on the base of chairs or tables. For the opening of the ART BASEL Statements, the dance piece could be performed on-site, or sometime while the sculptures are displayed at the fair in a theatre in Basel. The dance piece (in collaboration with Alice Chauchat and Alix Eynaudi ) is a solo for a female dancer. Is is about decoration and beautification as formalistic strategies. It is a research of their content on the historic background of art-déco, the glorification withinthe classical representation of the body and the evolution of modern dance as a medium of expression. The piece is about visual equality, where a moving body has the same visual presence and value asa still body, a sculpture or a light spotting into the empty. The project sketches illustrate what the sculptures will look like and the formal focus of their appearances.
