Z.E.R.O. (2009) | May Zarhy

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