Musée de la danse
expo zéro
16 – 17 April 2010
12.00-18.00 hrs
Lange Nieuwstraat 4, Utrecht
expo zéro is an exhibition without objects (hence the “zero” of the title), set into being by a group of people with their memories, their actions, the fruits of their collaborations, and interactions. On the occasion of this iteration of the project, a group of ten people, which includes choreographers, dancers, visual artists, philosophers, theorists, and architects, spends four days working together as a kind of think tank. Over this period, the participants reflect on the issues raised by the conceptual framework of a “museum of dance” from the perspective of their own disciplines, and try to jointly conceive a staging of the exhibition taking place in the final two days of the project. This process of debating, arguing, and researching in languages that range from rigorous intellectual arguments to performative gestures, offers a sense of how this “museum” is envisaged.
It is significant that the public dimension of the project takes place as an exhibition, a format claimed by the field of contemporary art rather than by the established tradition of dance. But this connection between the two fields is not just a game of language or even formats: it is based on a substantial cross-referential discourse. Thus the choice for an exhibition can be understood as an affirmation of and in solidarity with processes in the art field, which in recent years have been consolidating the exhibition as much more than a sum of aesthetic experiences in a given (conventional) architecture. This understanding of the exhibition as a space that allows and, in fact, asks for a questioning of the very basis of its systems of production, while being fully aware of its position in and responsibilities towards society, is shared with the expo zéro undertaking. The project attempts to go beyond a populist affirmation of “free” spaces of encounter and proposes a decidedly political re-thinking of the organization of knowledge, systems of power, and institutional frameworks in society. What it offers the audience are not the empty ticket stubs of uncritical, neoliberal participation, but it rather allows and invites for scenarios of empowerment.
The participants of expo zéro Utrecht are: Boris Charmatz (initiator expo zéro), Heman Chong (artist and curator), Cosmin Costinas (curator BAK), deufert&plischke (artists), Nikolaus Hirsch (architect), Sung Hwan Kim (artist), Boyan Manchev (philosopher), Valda Setterfield (dancer and actress), and Sigal Zouk Harder (dancer).
expo zéro is a project developed by Boris Charmatz, since 2009 director of the Centre choregraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne, which he renamed Musée de la danse (Museum of Dance). The edition of expo zéro in Utrecht is initiated by Boris Charmatz, Cosmin Costinas, Martina Hochmuth, and Bettina Masuch, co-curated by Cosmin Costinas and Martina Hochmuth, and produced by BAK together with Springdance, Utrecht. The inauguration of the SPRINGDANCE 2010 festival takes place on Friday 16 April with expo zéro at BAK.
expo zéro opening hours:
Friday 16 and Saturday 17 April 2010
12.00–18.00 hrs
For further information please contact:
BAK, basis voor actuele kunst
Lange Nieuwstraat 4
3512 PH Utrecht
t: +31 (0)30 2316125
f: +31 (0)30 2304866
e: info@bak-utrecht.nl
www.bak-utrecht.nl
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