Okwui Okpokwasili
Bronx Gothic
© Bronx Gothic, Okwui Okpokwasili © Marion Vogel ©
© Bronx Gothic, Okwui Okpokwasili © Marion Vogel ©
Creation and choreography, Okwui Okpokwasili
Performance, Wanjiru Kamuyu
Staging and stage design, Peter Born
Music, Okwui Okpokwasili, Peter Born
Produced by Michaelangelo DeSerio
Delegated production Sweat Variant
Produced by Kunstenfestivaldesarts
Coproduced by Tanzquartier Wien
Co-directed by La Commune CDN d’Aubervilliers; Festival d’Automne à Paris
Suppport from Centre Pompidou, CND Centre national de la danse, Théâtre National de Chaillot
Special thanks to Veronica Okeke
In Bronx Gothic, the visual artist, choreographer and writer, Okwui Okpokwasili’s piece centres upon the fictional account of a young girl’s memories. Using a mixture of dance and readings, this solo invites audiences to experience the construction of an intimate testimony.
Onstage, we are presented with a woman, alone, in a box-like décor consisting of closed curtains, accompanied by lighting and scenography which generates a sense of proximity. By reading the notes that they might have passed between them, and taking on their different voices, the woman recounts the story of a young girl, aged eleven years-old, in addition to that of one of her friends. This process of reading aloud is the mechanism by which Okwui Okpokwasili brings to the stage the memories of this period in their lives: their sexual awakening, in the 1980’s, in the Bronx, New York. Drawing upon a mixture of theatre, choreography and installation, Bronx Gothic is a monologue which puts the intimacy – that of a woman, and a body - on centre-stage. Created in 2014 and performed by Okwui Okpokwasili until 2019, the piece is presented at the Festival d’Automne in its new version. The dancer, Wanjiru Kamuyu now performs the work, in a staging which goes one step further in the questions it raises about the construction of a shared life history experience.
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.