Sammy Baloji
Missa Utica
septembersept 27 – 28
Friday september 27
19h
Saturday september 28
18h
Research, idea and direction Sammy Baloji. Text Fiston Mwanza Mujila. Performance Bwanga Pilipili. Musical composition and interpretation Pytshens Kambilo and Barbara Drazkov. Production Estelle Lecaille and Marek Szponik. Sound technician Francoise Pierre. Costumes Samira Benali. Carpet design Silvana De Bari.
Production Twenty Nine Studio & Production
Coproduction Kunstenfestivaldesarts ; Festival DreamCity ; KANAL Centre Pompidou ; Museo delle Civilta
With the support of the Federation Wallonie Bruxelles, of Wevioo and of Focus
La Commune, centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers and The Festival d’Automne à Paris present this Carte Blanche in co-production.
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.
Missa Utica retraces his journey during the 15th century, against the backdrop of the Kongo kingdom and the evangelisation of Africa. We witness the first diplomatic contacts and interactions, alliances and misalliances. The strategic stakes of the colonies and slavery unfold before our eyes, showing how Africa's colonial past collides with today's political and economic realities. The form of the story is inspired by the Missa Luba, a Latin mass using traditional Congolese songs. Composed by a twentieth-century Belgian missionary, it is reinterpreted by Barbara Drazkov and Pytshens Kambilo in a dialogue between European classical music and Congolese rumba, alongside performer Bwanga Pilipili. On a large carpet woven in Tunisia, Baloji's installation reveals disparate territories and narratives across pre- and post-colonial eras, finally reconnected and intertwined.
See also
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.
Éric Minh Cuong Castaing, Shonen company Sous Influence
First staged in Marseille on the roof terrace of La Friche Belle de mai, and then at Nuit Blanche 2018, Sous Influence is a techno party for all ages and all bodies in a dance epidemic. This party situation invites the audience to dance under the influence of a hundred or so amateur accomplices and professional dancers, bathed in the electronic music of Tunisian live-act composer Pan-J.
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.
Radouan Mriziga Libya
Libya, the third piece by Moroccan choreographer Radouan Mriziga to be performed at this year's Festival d'Automne, explores the notion of 'knowing', in which eight dancers and a series of lines on the floor seem to trace the trajectories of a constellation of movements that we are about to observe.
Alsarah & The Nubatones
The Dream City Carte Blanche will be marked by a concert given by the group Alsarah & the Nubatones, born out of discussions between Alsarah and Rami El Aasser about Nubian songs, migration and cultural exchanges between Sudan and Egypt.
Samaa Wakim & Samar Haddad King Losing it
"Can you still hear the bombs? Because I can." What happens when you grow up in a war zone? When you breathe in and physically feel the political conflict every day? How do you cope as a child in such an environment?
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.
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.
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.