SOON AT /SAC (Berthelot)
CHANTAL BY US
Chantal Akerman - interdisciplinary biographies in a theatre of care
with/by Paula Dunker, Nicoleta Lefter, Mihaela Michailov, Katia Pascariu, Laura Săvuțiu, Vlaicu Golcea in collaboration with Ema Onofrei, Laurence Ermacova and Monica Stoica, Alex Radu and with works by Mircea Suciu
Chantal by us, Chantal Akerman and her My Mother Laughs. Interdisciplinary biographies in a theatre of care. A series of performances, video-sound installations and images-objects in the space of /SAC Berthelot, starting November 12. So many rooms as many situations, so many walls as many instances. They tell stories about transgenerational trauma, ageing and vulnerability, the work of caretaking, the tense relationship between art, real space/intimate space/ socio-political space and work – all entering in a dialogue with the vast and unique work of an emblematic artist of the sec. XX, about the way this work is perceived today and resonates with the local and intimate-personal realities of the artists and performers involved. Theatrical exploration, interdisciplinary research laboratory, hybrid attempts to react to art through art, talking about life and death.
“Chantal by us” is thus a de/re-structured and dis/re-composed experimental-exploratory theatre project in an exhibition (gallery) space, presenting performances - by/with Paula Dunker, Katia Pascariu and Nicoleta Lefter -, audio and video installations - by Vlaicu Golcea and Laura Savuțiu -, performative video works - by/with Paula Dunker, Katia Pascariu, Mihaela Michailov and Laura Savuțiu -, with a radical, dramatic counterpoint in visual linguistics (and stylistics) realised through the works of Mircea Suciu which intertwine with/ continue/ prolong/ verticalize the themes of the performative works in “Chantal by Us”. His works comment (even through their titles) and operate in a similar way with the reopening/ reinterpretation/ recontextualization of major/historical visual-cultural landmarks (temporalities) in the present, in the personal/ artistic life, in the now of the works and their presentation (as co-present temporealities) at /SAC (Berthelot).
Chantal Akerman (1950, Brussels – 2015, Paris), filmmaker, writer, and multimedia artist, was a pioneer in feminist and experimental cinema. Born to Holocaust survivors from Poland, the generational trauma of this experience was a continuing theme in her work as well the exploration of her Jewish identity. In 2022, Sight and Sound magazine ranked her film Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) as the greatest film of all time. For the first time in 70 years, this renowned survey, conducted once every decade, placed a film directed by a woman in the top spot, one that takes a conscious and radically feminist approach to cinema. Akerman’s career spanned fiction and autofiction films, documentaries, short and feature-length films, and later, after 1995, video installations exhibited at Jeu de Paume, MoMA, Centre Pompidou, Documenta 11, Palais de Tokyo, the Venice Biennale, and the São Paulo Biennale. Regarded as one of the most important European directors of her generation, Akerman created over 15 video installations, stating: “I want the viewer to have a physical experience through the time used in each frame. To have this physical experience that time unfolds in you, that time enters you.”
[...] why you start with a tragicomedy in which you play yourself.
And why you seem to abandon that in favour of experimental and silent films.
Why no sooner are those finished across the ocean than you come back here, and back
to narration.
Why you stop acting and make a musical comedy.
Why you make documentaries and then adapt Proust.
Why you also write, a play, a story.
Why you make films about music.
And finally another comedy.
What's more, you've also been making installations for a while. Without really thinking of
yourself as an artist...
Because of the word artist.
Chantal Akerman in Cahiers du cinema, 2004, p.10
performance schedule:
Tuesday, November 12, 7:00 PM
Performance: Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman par Paula Dunker by Paula Dunker
Wednesday, November 13, 8:00 PM
Performance: Chantal Akerman par Chantal Akerman par Paula Dunker by Paula Dunker
Thursday, November 14, 8:00 PM
Performance: Mama Laughs by Katia Pascariu x Nicoleta Lefter x Vlaicu Golcea
Thursday, November 14, 9:00 PM
Performance: Mama Laughs by Katia Pascariu x Nicoleta Lefter x Vlaicu Golcea
Free entry. For performances, the places are limited. To reserve a spot, please access the following link:
https://forms.gle/CE5iUCPHW94MDMU19
Period: 12.11.24 - 25.01.25
Thursday-Saturday 16-20
/SAC - Str. Berthelot 5, interphone 10
Opening: 12.11.24, 7 pm
