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Le monologue dansé d'Angelin Preljocaj by Le Monde

LE MONDE 24.06.09 16h10 • Mis à jour le 24.06.09 16h10
Critique
Le monologue dansé d'Angelin Preljocaj

Le chorégraphe Angelin Preljocaj lors de son solo à Montpellier Danse, "Le Funambule", le 21 juin 2009

MONTPELLIER ENVOYÉE SPÉCIALE
Il n'est pas si seul, mais tout de même. Pour son premier solo, à l'âge de 52 ans, le danseur et chorégraphe Angelin Preljocaj s'est appuyé sur une nouvelle partenaire, la designeuse et scénographe Constance Guisset. Elle lui a dressé un autel en papier blanc dont les pages bruissent lorsqu'il s'assoit dessus, et qu'il peut lacérer à coups de couteau. Il y lit parfois son texte, Le Funambule (1958), de Jean Genet, déclaration d'amour à un fildefériste à travers son art, qui donne son titre au spectacle.

Angelin Preljocaj n'est pas comédien, mais tout de même. Sur le plateau très zen de l'Opéra Comédie de Montpellier, lundi 22 juin, habillé d'abord d'un tee-shirt blanc et d'un pantalon beige, il récite et danse aussi en même temps les mots de Genet. Il a appris le texte par coeur, réussit à en restituer le sens sans emphase, dans un tremblé léger qui résiste à l'habileté de la comédie, et c'est bien ainsi.

Plus qu'un solo, Le Funambule est un monologue dansé dont la gravité tient aussi à l'interprétation, encore démunie, souvent douloureuse, de Preljocaj. Il ne s'adresse pas frontalement au public, parle plutôt de profil à un interlocuteur fictif situé dans les coulisses. Préserver cette tension nerveuse, qui fait parfois basculer le texte du côté du mantra, est sans doute le vrai défi de ce spectacle condamné à tourner.

Il danse tout de même, évidemment ! Quinze ans que Preljocaj n'avait pas grimpé sur scène et mis à l'épreuve ses lignes de chance chorégraphiques. Arabesques avec la nuque penchée, sauts groupés des deux jambes, bras bien droits qui se brisent. La sécheresse dynamique s'est émoussée, cédant la place à une grâce lointaine, comme celle de vieux vêtements cousus main qui lui vont encore bien.

Il fonce, Preljocaj ! Il n'est pas l'homme de quarante-deux ballets pour rien. Il a des idées, s'offre quelques très beaux effets mais toujours au plus près du poème. Face à un Genet lyrique, il ose une certaine banalité, la fatigue ordinaire d'un homme qui s'assoit et reprend son souffle. Pour se la jouer soudain en pirate accroché à l'un des haubans soutenant le mât de son cirque imaginaire.
Avec Genet en bouclier, Preljocaj dégage la place d'un autoportrait façon mauvais garçon des Balkans (il est d'origine albanaise). Il rappelle aussi combien l'écriture du texte et de la danse se confondent dans une seule et même tâche. Pendant que des pages monumentales de papier blanc tombent des cintres, on se souvient de cette formule de Preljocaj à propos de sa mère Liza. "Je danse pour que Liza lise."

Pour rester vivant dans ce métier, et pas seulement efficace, il fallait à Preljocaj se risquer sur le fil de funambule de Genet, sa lecture de jeunesse. Se cogner aussi à un autre savoir-faire que celui de la danse. En avoir peur mais aimer cette trouille-là. Parier sur la maladresse pour oser le suspense. Preljocaj, la maigreur affamée, s'est offert ce cadeau effrayant, jouissif.
Le chorégraphe, directeur du Ballet Preljocaj d'Aix-en-Provence, a choisi le festival Montpellier Danse pour sa performance. Il a bien fait. Lundi, le public de l'Opéra Comédie lui a d'abord accordé un silence profond, à la mesure de celui du plateau, zébré par des motifs musicaux folkloriques et classiques. Enfin, les applaudissements ont éclaté, libérateurs.

"Le Funambule", de et par Angelin Preljocaj. Au festival Montpellier Danse, Opéra Comédie, Montpellier. Le 24 juin, à 22 heures. De 21 € à 30 €. Sur Internet : http://www.montpellierdanse.com/.
Rosita Boisseau

To learn more: www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2009/06/24/le-monologue-danse-d-angelin-preljocaj_1210787_3246.html#ens_id=1210858

Art Basel's enthusiasm

The 40th edition of Art Basel closed on Sunday, June 14, 2009. Although everybody was expecting gloomy results, the fair demonstrated health and apparently significant sales, (although galleries would never tell you if they hadn't made business). You could feel in the air that everybody was really enthusiastic and a great many artists also attended the event, among them Stefan Balkenhol, Matthew Barney, Elmgreen and Dragset, Thomas Demand, Olafur Eliasson, Liam Gillick, Dan Graham, Subodh Gupta, Joan Jonas, Jeff Koons, Mark Leckey, Sigmar Polke, Ed Ruscha, Nedko Solakov, Not Vital and Franz Erhard Walther. Over 50 museum groups visited Art 40 Basel, as did "major private collectors". Even Brad Pitt, Pharell William, and Karl Lagerfeld were there...

Copyright Gabriele Heidecker, Berlin

“We came with no expectations, but it went really well for us. There were many pleasant surprises and we connected with many new people.” Tim Blum, Blum and Poe, Los Angeles declared. “Business was surprisingly good, which was unexpected. Art Basel still remains the best place to see clients who return for many years, and to meet new ones as well.” Monika Sprüth, Sprüth Magers, Berlin/London had to say about the results.

I personnally really enjoyed the fair, which is amazingly professional and well organised. A lot of reasons can explain this feeling: the fact that it's the oldest fair, the most established, that it gathers la crème de la crème (from gallerists, artists, and obviously artworks) and the dedicated and lovely people that work for it.

Starting naming the artworks that I loved would be endless so I'll just flag up David Nahmad's late Joan Miró works and booth that were marvellous. Which artworks did you like?

Design Miami was absolutely amazing too!

Now I am looking forward to Art Basel Miami Beach taking place from 3-6 December 2009 and you will hear from me soon about Il Tempo del Postino, the Van Gogh exhibition at the Kunstmuseum and of course the Beyeler Foundation which, for me, is perfection...

To learn more: http://www.artbasel.com/ and http://www.designmiami.com/

ANTIBODIES, a retrospective exhibition the Campana brothers is at the Vitra Museum in Germany

ANTIBODIES, a retrospective exhibition by the Campana brothers is at the Vitra Museum in Germany.

The Works of Fernando & Humberto Campana 1989 - 2009
A Vitra Design Museum exhibition, Weil am Rhein

'Til February 28, 2010

"Our work is about contamination: as much as the world contaminates ourselves, we want to contaminate the world." Humberto Campana.

Humberto Campana (born in 1953) and his brother Fernando (born in 1961) have worked together as furniture designers in São Paulo since 1989. Humberto came to the partnership as a self-taught artist with a degree in law while Fernando had been trained as an architect. The first joint work of this unequal pair – brutalistic, surrealistic furniture sculptures – caused a sensation in the São Paulo art scene right from the start. Over the past twenty years, they have established themselves among the most well-known and successful designers of our times, implementing their distinctive and individual language of objects in a tremendously wide-ranging oeuvre of furniture, lighting and installations that has been recognized in numerous publications and exhibitions such as at the Experimenta in Lisbon, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the London Design Museum.

Through a series of exceptionally successful seminars that the Campanas conducted for its summer workshop program, the Vitra Design Museum established a close relationship with the pair. This association provided the basis for the preparation of this major retrospective offering an overview of their most important works as well as their background. The exhibition highlights the characteristics of an oeuvre whose preoccupation with recycling, the melding of natural and artificial materials and the simultaneity of cultures sketches out a fascinating picture of our time. From the early days up to the present, their work has navigated a narrow path between design and pure art and spawned the most astonishing collages of objects and materials: "It’s a kind of flirt with the material which stands up asking: what can we be transformed into? The material dictates the form and the function in our work." Thus the exhibition devotes special attention to the Campanas’ working method, which is influenced by various sources of inspiration – the exuberant nature of Brazil’s primeval forests, the improvisations of street hawkers and the shacks of the slums, as well as film, music and fine art. The organization of their studio and the collaboration with external workshops as well as with international companies like Alessi, Edra or Vitra will be documented along with the interdisciplinary work on their latest projects. Along with this most comprehensive overview of their oeuvre to date, featuring a large number of prototypes, experiments and models being shown for the first time, the exhibition presents artworks by the Campanas as well as films, interviews and photos. In nine different groups, the exhibition highlights the formal variety of the works while always keeping the design process transparent.

If you have a chance to go, run because it's a must-see. The party organized during Art Basel was fantastically brazilian with caipirinhas and brazilian lounge music !

Photographs are by Thomas Dix

To learn more: www.design-museum.de/index.php and http://www.campanas.com.br/