Visual artist Anne Lorenz
Swiss visual artist Anne Lorenz presents works that were developed during her residency in Bangalore at Sumukha Gallery. [dated January 2009]
Swiss visual artist Anne Lorenz presents works that were developed and realised during her four months stay in Bangalore at Sumukha Gallery on Tuesday 27 January.
Recent video works by Anne Lorenz
Over the last ten to fifteen years Anne Lorenz has built up a diverse body of work, brought together by a common line of investigation: her profound interest in the way we behave and its relation to our psyche. On the one hand her investigations into body language reveal a commonality of human existence, expressed in physical rhythms and motions that are shared world wide, the at times banal routines that provide choreography for daily life around the globe. On the other she uncovers small differences in physical behaviour that point to the cruelness of individuality, suggest a dislocation between the interior self and the public self, and embody expressions of solitude and insecurity.
When studying Fine Art in Germany, Spain and the UK she focussed on object-based and installation work. After graduating in 1996 the installations became increasingly site-specific and, where earlier work had suggested the presence of people and hinted at narrative, her work soon broadened to include performers and time-based elements. Interested by the disciplines of directing, stage-design and costume Lorenz worked in this capacity on several dance and music-theatre productions. This experience was reflected in a series of film and performance works, under her artistic direction, which employed a mixture of trained and untrained performers. Currently she is concentrating on creating multi-channel video works, which are realised in close collaboration with local people and inspired by the physical and sociological make up of the locations.
She loves me she loves me not 2008/2009 3-channel Video Projection with sound, DV Measurements: variable Duration: 25 min. Artistic Direction: Anne Lorenz Casting & Crew: Aspect Professionals, Nithin Muralidharan Cinematography: Nagesh Raj Sound: Yashas Shetty Voice: Anne Lorenz Video Consultancy: Bison Singh Oeil Exterieur: Barnaby Drabble
A visitor to Bangalore, the artist Anne Lorenz brings with her a particular practice of seeing. Her newly produced three-screen video projection She loves me, she loves me not is in equal parts a document of what has caught her eye in the city and a meditation on her own vulnerability. The artist describes her experience by observing the city’s rhythms, not explicitly those one associates with a public urban space, but rather those conditioned by the private space of the body, its capabilities and its needs. She observes the socialised body, linked to others by its activities and understands the city as a web of these relations.
In this work she carefully depicts people at work, asleep, eating, or praying and explores in these sequences the meditative quality of repetitive movement, and with this the line between comfort and discomfort. As in former works she restages things that she has observed in her new environment, drawing attention to the patterns of everyday life that, at first sight, appear unremarkable. Precisely this attention to normality and its presentation in the gallery space, produces a secondary impulse in the work which moves away from the descriptive and towards the narrative; constituting an unresolved story in which the actors, the artist and the viewers play equal roles.
The artist maintains that the work is neither about the people depicted in the images, nor about her experiences but about the viewer. She opens up a dialogue, through her observations on the activities of others, asking how we feel about ourselves, how comforted or pained we are by everyday life, and how delicate or vulnerable we feel in our socialised bodies and the cities that they populate.
In her hands (an interview with Madhu Nataraj) 2009 Videowork with sound, HDV/DV Measurements: variable Duration: 7 min. Artistic Direction: Anne Lorenz £Performance: Madhu Nataraj Cinematography: B. R. Viswanath Video Consultancy: Bison Singh Oeil Exterieur: Barnaby Drabble
Driven by her interest in the way we communicate through our body, both intentionally and unconsciously, Lorenz has frequently made work in collaboration with dancers and choreographers, exploring movement and improvisation through the medium of video. In her Hands: an interview with Madhu Nataraj is the first in a proposed series of short portraits, for which she adopts the traditional format of the filmed interview. In the work she poses questions to her friend, the Bangalore based Kathak and contemporary dancer and choreographer Madhu Nataraj.
Environmental Art Project by Rahel Hegnauer
Leading Swiss environmental artist Rahel Hegnauer participates in the Mumbai Festival. [dated January 2009]
Leading Swiss environmental artist Rahel Hegnauer returns to India as part of the Festival's focus on the city and the need for positive change. Contributing to the Festival Umbrella activity at Khar Danda, Rahel will work with local architectural students on a temporary art installation to be displayed as part of local Festival activity between 27 and 31 January. The art installation will relate to the local community, a community that is diverse and vibrant.
January 2009 at Khar Danda, Mumbai
Details of Project:
A 2-week art intervention at a Koli village, Khar Danda, Mumbai. Final presentation on 27th and 28th January 2009 on the site, jettey, Khar Danda.
The project was realised during the Mumbai Festival in January 2009 as a collaborative project with Rahel Hegnauer (visual artist, Zurich, Switzerland) Vijaya Kumar S. (documentary film maker, Bangalore, India) 2nd year students of Rizvi Architecture College, Bandra, Mumbai and with the support of villagers of Khar Danda, especially the corporated fishing society. The objectiveof the project was to have a glimpse at an area (Koli village) which is gradually being encroached upon by the gentrification. Our aims were to research the life of a fishermen's community which is encircled by a megalopolis and to point out the fact that the accumulated waste along the seashore can no longer be ignored. The project consisted of 3 elements: - a site specific installation at the jettey (harbour at Khar Danda)
- 2 film essays
- (edition of) a newspaper
On 27th and 28th January the place became a temporary installation where the 3 elements of the project were presented together.
A site specific installation
The installation site was at the back of a tea-gambler-house at the jettey. This site is normally covered with litter, men use it to urinate and children to play marbles. On this site a platform was built around 3 decaying boats. It was designed on 3 different levels and in a sloping manner making it look like waves. This platform changed the site from a neglected to a (however only temporary) maintained and formed site. The platform could easily be mounted by everybody and enabled the visitor to see either inside the boats or to climb further up onto the boats. The platform invited people to use the site as a place to sit, chat or play. The place around the platform had been cleaned by the project group.
(Edition of a) newspaper The newspaper assembles different issues related to the history of Khar Danda, the life of the fishermen's community, the architectural structure of the buildings and the future of the fishermen and their community. The newspaper was written in Marathi, the local language. 1000 copies of the newspaper were printed, displayed on the site and distributed among the villagers.
Concept/idea of project (newspaper, film and installation) and site: Rahel Hegnauer
Structure and communication of project: Vijaya Kumar S.
Concept/idea, directing, editing of film: Vijaya Kumar S.
Concept, realisation of newspaper: Gauri Abhyankkar, Yogesh Govardhane
Design of platform: Rahel Hegnauer
Assistant to film and installation: Heena Shaik, Aliasgar Poonawala, Huzefa Bhal, Jiger Mehta, Ishan Vora.
With the friendly support of the corporated fishing society.
Mumbai, 2009
For the First Time – ‘La Premiere Fois’
Théâtre en Flammes presents, For the First Time – ‘La Premiere Fois’ - a piece in English & French by 5 Swiss & 4 Indian actors and directed by Denis Maillefer. [dated January 2009]
Théâtre en Flammes presents For the First Time – ‘La Premiere Fois’ - a piece in English and French by 5 Swiss and 4 Indian actors
Directed by Denis Maillefer
Delhi: As part of the 11th Bharat Rang Mahotsav On Monday 12 January 2009 at 7:30 pm At Kamani Auditorium, 1 Copernicus Marg, New Delhi – 110001 Tickets available from NSD from 3 January onwards
Gurgaon: On Saturday 17 January 2009 at 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm At Epicentre, Apparel House Open to all.
Cast: (5 Swiss and 4 Indians) Valeria Bertolotto, Jean-Luc Borgeat, Frédéric Ozier, Julia Perazzini and Lucie Zelger Mandakini Goswami, Harish Khanna, Manjushree Kulkarni and Rajesh Tailang
For the First Time is an experiment in a natural style of acting akin to an incident in real time. It is about moments from our everyday lives -- those first times in life, simple and moving, egocentric, self-obsessed and universal. For the First Time highlights actors, the force of their interpretative talent, their individual personalities, which contribute to the uniqueness of each performance.
La première fois/For the First Time tries to retell the first-time experiences of ordinary men and women. The piece is like a group of soloists who have to come together to play like an orchestra. They are alone, yet together and speak about intimacy. We could find it funny, or not, terrible, or not, moving, or not. It is about simple life and enormous feelings : ours, yours, happening everyday.
La Premiere Fois is not the presentation of any specific group or organization. The performance aims at integrating experiences of actors and artistes from different cultures into a singular interactive space that allows a sharing and exploration of moments that comprise the everyday lives of the human experience. In India - For The First Time will be recreated with four Indian and five Swiss actors.
At each performance, the actors appear on stage in an unpredictable order, nothing having been predetermined. They address the public telling stories from their past, each time starting with the words « the first time… ». Little by little, this can become a chorus where words can overlap and voices can mix. Some memories may be recounted in snatches or little by little as the show goes on. Others may never end. These stories, true or imagined, may evoke nothing extraordinary, but they tell us about those little events that constitute our lives, revealing in the process myriad images, sensations and emotions.
For more information on Théâtre en Flammes, Lausanne visit www.theatre-en-flammes.ch
