Z.E.R.O.
2009
If you try to put aside the wish to understand what you see, what is left to watch? What could be the feeling then? The starting point for Z.E.R.O. is the body as tabula rasa: a body lacking memory, which performs each movement as if for the first time; a tool with neither purpose nor function. Z.E.R.O. presents itself as a sequence of confusing and fragmented scenes against an ambiguous background of recognizable sounds, some pre-recorded, some live. What you hear is not always what you see. Nor do the bodies react as expected. They are thrown back onto an isolated present, delivered up to constant interaction. The anticipated fluidity of movement is questioned. Gestures are deconstructed, disrupted, dislocated. But if “you are what you do”, then what identity is left for a body which has erased its past? Z.E.R.O. explores the relation between memory and the body, its bearings and reflexes, with remarkable physical intelligence.
(text by Jasper Nijsmans KFDA’10)
Conceived, staged and performed by:
Ioannis Mandafounis, Fabrice Mazliah, May Zarhy
Sound by: Johannes Helberger
Production: Association Cie Projet 11
Support:
Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt
Festival Automne en Normandie, Rouen
Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis
Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels
PACT Zollverein, Essen
The Forsythe Company, Frankfurt
Ville de Genève
Loterie Romande Organe Genèvois
Presentations:
10 - 12.12.2009 | Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt Germany
23 - 25.4.2010 | PACT Zollverein, Essen Germany
8 - 12.5.2010 | Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels Belgium
25 - 27.5.2010 | Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, France
28 - 29.5.2010 | ADC Festival EXTRA-10, Geneva Switzerland
3 - 4.7.2010 | Athens and Epidaurus Festival, Athens Greece
2 - 3.3.2012 | deSingel International Arts Campus, Antwerp Belgium
4 - 5.5.2013 | Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt Germany