Jérôme Bel
Disabled Theater
Theater HORA
© Disabled Theater (2012) Theater HORA/Jérôme Bel © Hugo Glendinning ©
Concept, Jérôme Bel
Conceived and performed by, Noha Badir, Remo Beuggert, Gianni Blumer, Damian Bright, Matthias Brücker, Nikolai Gralak, Matthias Grandjean, Julia Häusermann, Sara Hess, Tiziana Pagliaro, and Remo Zarentonello
Assistance and translation, Simone Truong
Dramaturgy, Marcel Bugiel
Assistant to Jérôme Bel, Maxime Kurvers
Production manager, Svetlana Ignjic
Artistic director at Theater HORA, Michael Elber
General manager at Theater HORA, Giancarlo Marinucci
Administrative assistant at Theater HORA, Conny Marinucci
A Theater HORA production - Stiftung Züriwerk (Zurich) // Co-produced by Theater HORA, R.B. Jérôme Bel, Festival AUAWIRLEBEN (Berne / Bern), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Bruxelles / Brussels / Brüssel), dOCUMENTA (13), Festival d'Avignon, Ruhrtriennale, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Les Spectacles vivants - Centre Pompidou (Paris), La Bâtie – Festival de Genève, Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin) // With support from, Stadt Zürich Kultur, Kanton Zürich Fachstelle Kultur, Pro Helvetia, Stiftung Denk an Mich, Ernst Göhner Stiftung // With support from the Fondation crédit coopératif and Fonds Handicap & Société par intégrance //With thanks to: Sasa Asentic, Tom Stromberg, Andreas Meder (Internationales Theaterfestival OKKUPATION!), Stiftung Züriwerk, Fabriktheater Rote Fabrik Zürich and audiences at the open rehearsals.
First performed on 10 of May 2012 au Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Bruxelles)
Taken aback by the powerful presence of Theater HORA’s handicapped performers, Jérôme Bel has devised a show which affords them not only visibility but also their own space: a place in which to dance and express themselves. This is done without seeking to limit the range of possibilities, nor hide the singularity of which their body is both sign and affirmation.
Following his invitation by the dramaturge at Theater HORA to meet the mentally handicapped actors that work there, Jérôme Bel has come up with a show that pieces together the experience of this encounter. The staging is one which exposes the uniqueness of these actors and affirms the necessity, in political terms as much as aesthetic, to invest the performance space with this presence. How does this state, generally hidden from view, provoke the accepted conventions that are prevalent in theatre in society alike? How can we make visible the inherent and radical criticism of ourselves that these bodies confront us with?
In order to show without demonstrating, Jérôme Bel has devised Disabled Theater: a “theatre which is precarious, slowed down, undermined and void of savoir-faire”. Through this modification of the theatrical tool, stripping it back to its bare roots, he seeks to open theatre’s black box in order to shed light on what this tool both contains and retains: the irrevocable blocks of presence that form this experience of what we term “theatre” or “dance”. As in the work of Véronique Doisneau or Cédric Andrieux, and their “unfolding” of the individual in terms of the practices and discourse that make him or her up, the performer is placed at the heart of the process. He or she is seen in a plural way, in terms of their otherness, and condition as absolute minority. Here, dance, picks up from where words fail.
In the same place
Carte Blanche Dream City
The multi-disciplinary Tunisian festival Dream City is moving to Aubervilliers at the joint invitation of the Festival d'Automne and La Commune, with the shared desire to make this area rustle, resonate and dream through a dozen creations by international performing and visual artists.
Selma & Sofiane Ouissi BIRD
Starting with ordinary everyday gestures such as feeding, living together and getting around, Sofiane Ouissi explores our relationship with birds. Passionate about encounters and the journeys they generate, this time he delves into the relationship with another species.
Visual arts: exhibitions and conversations
Artists Jumana Manna and Sille Storihle, Manthia Diawara, Michael Rakowitz & Robert Chase Heishmans will be in La Commune from 20 to 28 September to present five works and invite you to take part in two conversations.
The works of Nil Yalter will be on display in the public space of Aubervilliers.
Conference by Sophie Bessis Tunisia in the turmoil of populism
After a decade of chaotic but richly experienced democratic apprenticeship, Tunisia found itself plunged into a new cycle of its post-colonial history from 2021 onwards. From that date onwards, Kaïs Saïed, who was democratically elected in 2019, assumed all the powers, transforming a fledgling democracy into an autocracy.
Sammy Baloji Missa Utica
The first black bishop appointed by the Catholic Church should have settled in Utica, Tunisia, but never did. His story is the starting point for Sammy Baloji's work.
Winter Family H2-Hébron
Winter Family is an experimental music and documentary theatre duo founded by Israeli artist Ruth Rosenthal and French musician Xavier Klaine. They play minimal, obsessive, abrasive and political music. They created H2 Hebron, their 3rd show in 2018, a documentary piece in which the transcription of nearly 500 pages of testimonies, their translation, selection and reappropriation by Winter Family are the central element and the main dramaturgical material of the show.
Lina Majdalanie, Rabih Mroué Biokhraphia
These two one-person shows, Biokhraphia et Riding on a cloud, are an investigation into the self-portrait. In Riding on a Cloud, a man called Yasser speaks into a dictaphone, projects videos and broadcasts recordings, whilst expressing reservations about the extent to which these documents coincide with his true self. In Biokhraphia, it is Lina Majdalanie who becomes the subject of a very unusual interview.
Rabih Mroué Riding on a cloud
These two one-person shows, Biokhraphia and Riding on a cloud, are an investigation into the self-portrait. In Riding on a Cloud, a man called Yasser speaks into a dictaphone, projects videos and broadcasts recordings, whilst expressing reservations about the extent to which these documents coincide with his true self. In Biokhraphia, it is Lina Majdalanie who becomes the subject of a very unusual interview.