Furla Series #01

Alexandra Bachzetsis. Private: Wear a mask when you talk to me

The artist and choreographer will perform the Italian premiere of her piece "Private: Wear a mask when you talk to me" at the Museo del Novecento's Sala Fontana

 
The second event in Furla Series #01 features Swiss/Greek artist and choreographer Alexandra Bachzetsis,
whose cross-disciplinary approach blends dance, theater, performance, and the visual arts.
 

Bachzetsis’s investigation centers on the language of the body, specifically exploring how gestures and poses are shaped and determined by the stereotypes and clichés of popular culture. Her performances draw inspiration from many fields of mainstream culture, ranging from the entertainment world to fashion, to re-examine the tropes of contemporary femininity. Her exploration of the human body revolves around an ongoing analysis of how gestures are used in real life and fictional entertainment, whether “lowbrow”—music videos and television—or “highbrow”—the performing arts—and how these cultural genres interact and influence each other.
 

Private: Wear a mask when you talk to me was presented for the first time in 2016 at the Festival DansFabrik in Brest. In this 53-minute-long solo performance, the artist portrays a sequence of characters caught up in a vast range of stereotyped performative/choreographic/athletic poses and movements. One can make out a multitude of references: to Asian drag queen moves, fitness routines, advertisements, Michael Jackson, yoga positions, or even the postures found in football games or porn films. Like many of the artist’s works, this piece explores how gender and sexual identity is expressed through the body and through movement, through an approach that pays homage to the experiments of dancer and choreographer Trisha Brown (1936-2017). Private: Wear a mask when you talk to me examines the manifold images of “femininity,” studying the processes of depersonalization, transition and change, and how the fluid boundaries of self are constantly shifted, deconstructed, and redefined through stereotyped roles. Private is a constantly evolving project that recently engendered the performance Private Song, presented at documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel.

Credits

Concept, Choreography and Performance Alexandra Bachzetsis / Collaboration Creation of Performance and Movement Research Thibault Lac / Research Curator Paul B. Preciado / Communication Design and Photography Julia Born and Blommers-Schumm / Costume Design Cosima Gadient / Collaboration Sound Lies Vanborm / Light Design and Technique Patrik Rimann / Stage Design and Production Assistant Sotiris Vasiliou / Production Association All Exclusive / Production Management Anna Geering / Supported by Kooperative Förderververeinbarung between: Stadt Zürich, Kanton Basel-Landschaft, Kanton Basel-Stadt, Pro Helvetia-Schweizer Kulturstiftung, GGG Basel and Ernst Göhner Stiftung / Coproduced with Kaserne Basel, Zürich Tanzt, ICA London, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and Tanzhaus Zürich / Thanks to Shannon Jackson, Mia Born, Oleg Houbrechts, Daphni Antoniou, Verena Bachzetsis, Jannis Tsingaris and Sakis Bachzetsis

Cover photo by: Alexandra Bachzetsis, Private: Wear a mask when you talk to me, 2016 © Blommers & Schumm

Info

29-30 November 2017
8.00 pm (admission at 7.30 pm)
Admission free, but room capacity is limited

Museo del Novecento, Sala Fontana
via Marconi, 1
Milan

-> How to get there

Alexandra Bachzetsis, Private: Wear a mask when you talk to me, 2016, performed at Museo del Novecento, Sala Fontana, Milan, 2017. Photo © Masiar Pasquali

Alexandra Bachzetsis, Private: Wear a mask when you talk to me, 2016, performed at Museo del Novecento, Sala Fontana, Milan, 2017. Photo © Masiar Pasquali

 
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