Show / Concert
Cécile B. Evans
Installation et performance
16 Dec 2020 - 3 Jan 2021
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The event is over
Notationsfor an Adaptation of Giselle (welcome to whatever forever) is a polymorphic performance installation and the second phase of a long term adaptation of the ballet Giselle as an eco-feminist thriller. The project encompasses several temporalities in parallel, each phase contributing to a fluid and evolving narrative.
The story takes place in a distant future, where climate change and failed cities have compelled many people to migrate to rural areas. Giselle and her friends have moved to the forest to live with her mother and run a distillery that uses a wild microbe indigenous to the area: a "super-bacterium" that has tranformative properties capable of generating electricity for their village. Giselle falls in love with a young man from the city named Albrecht, who presents himself as a philosopher. It is revealed that he is the scion to a very powerful family at the head of a technofascist state sent to the village to gather information on their way of life and the energetic properties of the super-bacteria. Filled with remorse for endangering her community, Giselle dies. After her death, she transfers to another realm and is met by Myrthe, Queen of the Wilis and a manifestation of the bacteria’s radical transformation. Where in the original, the Wilis are a gang of scorned women, they now represent indeterminate beings in a state of perpetual mutation. Giselle's death is now reimagined to conjure mutability and multiplicity as strategies for survival.
Notations (from the term "choreographic notations") is a narrative in constant process of mutation and rewriting. Its starting point is the crucial transition at the heart of the story: Giselle's death and her subsequent encounter with the Wilis, developing into a performance that blends script drafts, dance, video, security camera footage, deep AI, human and synthesised voices, music and sound. These live experiments, or "notations", interact with a series of "living" sculptural stations, and incorporate a multitude of dramaturgical references to intersect the broader themes of the project.
Cécile B. Evans (1983) is a Belgian-American artist, living and working in London. Recent solo exhibitions include: Nord 6 Est - Frac Lorraine, Metz (France), Tramway, Glasgow (UK), Museo Madre, Naples (Italy), Mumok Vienna (Austria), Castello di Rivoli, Turin (Italy), Galerie Emmanuel Layr, Vienna (Austria), Tate Liverpool (UK), Kunsthalle Aarhus (Denmark), M Museum Leuven (Belgium), De Hallen Haarlem (Netherlands), and Serpentine Galleries, London (UK). Their work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions including the Whitechapel Gallery, London (UK), Haus der Kunst, Munich (Germany), Renaissance Society Chicago (USA) and the 9th Berlin Biennale (Germany).
The film
Cécile B. Evans, A Screen Test for an Adaptation of Giselle, 2019, HD Video, 8:49min
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Emanuel Layr, Vienna and Château Shatto, Los Angeles
Supported by Balmain, Paris with the additional support of Forma Arts
Production, Rachel C. Clark, Bill Bellingham
Director of Photography, Deepa Keshvala
Sound design, Joe Namy
Costume design, Ella Plevin
Performances by :
Alexandrina Hemsley, Giselle
Rebecca Root, Bertie (Giselle's Mother)
Lily McMenamy, Leonida
Viktoria Modesta, Myrthe
Real time voice cloning toolkit, Albrecht
Villagers/Willis: Valerie Ebuwa, Becky Namgauds, Olivia Norris, Seira Winning
Performances everyday (except tuesdays) at 6:30 pm.
The performance
Cécile B. Evans, Notationsfor an Adaptation of Giselle (welcome to whatever forever), 2020
Polymorphous installation
Courtesy the artist, Galerie Emanuel Layr, Vienna, and Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles
With:
Cécile B. Evans, director
Alexandrina Hemsley, Giselle
Lily McMenamy, Leonida
Sakeema Crook, Myrthe
Rebecca Root, Bertie (Giselle’s Mother)
Sophia Al Maria, voice, script
fiverr.com/yuemonkey, Journalist
Produced by Bill Bellingham
Assistant to Production Johan Redderson
A/V Programming : Jelena Viskovic
Interface programming : Thomas Lawanson
Rehearsals Manager : Anna Clifford
Composer ; Paul Purgas
Music with : Hinako Omori
Vocals : Ms Carrie Stacks
Sound Mixing : Joe Namy
Script Support : Sophia Al Maria
Additional Visuals : Deepa Keshvala
Costumes : Matthew Dainty/COTTWEILER
With support from Cork Street Galleries. Additional support and thanks to: La Salle de Bains (Lyon), Forma Arts, Gentle Energy Audio Hire & Engineering, Personal Improvement Ltd, Phocealys, Galerie Emanuel Layr, Château Shatto, Yuri Pattison, and the Bristol BioEnergy Centre (UWE) for providing microbial fuel cells.
When
11am - 8pm, every days except tuesdays
Event cancelled
Where
Cécile B. Evans, A Screen Test for an Adaptation of Giselle, 2019
© D.R.