Performance
Studio Cité
Benjamin Vandewalle
22 - 24 Sep 2021
22 - 24 Sep 2021
The event is over
Over the past seven years, Belgian choreographer and dancer Benjamin Vandewalle has continuously studied the perception and apprehension of reality by creating a series of interactive installations. Set up in a travelling fairground village, these installations equipped with mirrors guide and divert the spectator's eye to choreograph a different view of the city. A scene, an architectural detail, a perspective, lights suddenly illuminate this small urban theatre in a fascinating game of visual manipulation.
Helmets with visors, a cart on wheels, benches on wheels, portable structures, periscope kiosks, etc. In the small Studio Cité village, the installations created by the artist-choreographer offer us surprising discoveries simply by offering us a different way of viewing things. Guided through a frame, deflected by mirrors, our eyes discover a visual field that focuses on a detail or a movement. Transforming a public urban space into a multitude of fragmented theatrical scenes, these interactive devices create a show from existing urban elements: streets, architecture, passers-by, trees, lights, etc.
The presence of the audience turns the installations into an artistic fairground, a merrygo-round for the eye, a space for social encounters and exchanges where strangers can share their experience. The choreographer invites us to take a fresh look at the everyday world around us. This expanded vision that immerses us in an astonishing fictional reality, raises the question of the multiplication of points of view and questions the possibility of the coexistence of multiple perspectives. Beware, then, of the landing!
Benjamin Vandewalle studied at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp and graduated at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels in 2006. Since early on, the central theme in his work is perception. He creates movement – not only in the performer’s body but also in the spectator’. His work is about sharing new experiences and perspectives with a large audience.
For the performances Birdwatching (2009) and One/Zero (2011), he worked closely with visual artist and scenographer Erki De Vries. In 2012 he stepped out of the black box into the public space. His mobile performance Birdwatching 4x4 was a festival favorite amongst audience and critics and toured for several seasons. Later on, he created new works for the black box such as point of view (2013) and, in collaboration with Platform K, Common ground (2018), the last of which got selected for Het Theater Festival. Another work that he created worth mentioning is Hear (2016) which is a sound choreography performed by a choir of 30 volunteers for a blindfolded audience. At this moment Benjamin is touring with his traveling art-fair called Studio Cité (2019) which is a collection of 8 performative installations for the public space and he is working on a new project called Journal d'un usager de l'espace (2021).
Where
Ircam
When
22 - 24 Sep 2021
Studio Cité
© Thomas Seest