With the dancers Stève Paulet (company les gens d’Uterpan), Kostas Tsioukas (Athens), and auditioning dancers Ioanna Angelopoulou, Anna Apergi, Myrto Delimichali, Stella Dimitrakopoulou, Nefeli Kadinopoulou Asteriou, Nikos Kalivas, Giannis Karounis, Konstantinos Katsoudas, Sofia Kondylia, Venizelos-Alexandros Michail, Loukiani Papadaki, Emmanouela Pechynaki, Nikos Raptis, Christina Reinhardt, Evgenia Sigalou, Diogenis Skaltsas, Vasilios Skarmoutsos, Periklis Skordilis, Vanessa Spinassa, Olga Spyraki, Alexandros Stavropoulos, Ioannis Tsigkris, Dimitris Tsikouras, Zafeiria Tsirakaki, and Christina Vassiliou
Organized by Pierre Bal-Blanc with the assistance of Eleni Riga.
Τickets:
10 Euro / reduced 5 Euro (students, seniors, and unemployed persons)
Tickets are available at the theater on the day of the spectacle. Pre-sale of tickets is not available.
Annie Vigier & Franck Apertet (les gens d’Uterpan), Avis d’audition, 2017, Theater Karolos Koun (Theatro Technis), Athens, documenta 14, photo: Stathis Mamalakis
Avis d’audition is a programmed audition, presented as a spectacle. The theater program repeats the audition call posted in places frequented by dancers as follows:
“French choreographers Annie Vigier & Franck Apertet (les gens d’Uterpan) investigate the norms that dictate the terms of representation in the performing arts. As part of this work in the context of documenta 14, Vigier & Apertet are conducting an audition in Athens, which is open to the public as a spectacle. During this audition they aim to meet not only with contemporary dancers but also with a wider group of performers. The audition will take place on Tuesday February 21, 2017, from 8–11 pm, on the stage of the Theater Karolos Koun (Theatro Technis), Frynichou Street, Athens. The dancers chosen by the choreographers to participate in this public event are initially hired for the evening and receive a net fee of 50 Euro. At the end of the audition, selected dancers are engaged to perform future pieces produced by (les gens d’Uterpan) during documenta 14 and beyond.”
Accordingly, on the day of the spectacle, the audience has the same information as the auditioning dancers, and is invited to attend the audition process as spectators. The entire selection process takes place during the audition. The dancers who are “eliminated” must either leave the theater or join the spectators in the auditorium.
Using the process of the dancers’ audition or recruitment as a tool, the choreographers mobilize the operational character of this apparatus for the real needs of their upcoming choreographies. This performative exchange with the dancers offers an opportunity to revisit previous works by the choreographers. Avis d’audition proposes a renewed monographic presentation of a choreographic piece that ruptures the codes of the spectacle, with no separation between reality and play.
Avis d’audition was first performed in December 2008 at the Théâtre de Vanves, France, in the context of the 11th Festival Artdanthé.
Annie Vigier & Franck Apertet have been working together under the name (les gens d’Uterpan) since 1994. They have developed a creative process that progressively subverts the standard field of choreography. Their work questions the norms that govern the living arts and exhibition-making, involving, among other things, an exploration of the body’s limits and the conventions of representation. Their work has been exhibited in a variety of contemporary theaters, art spaces, and museums, including the Musée d’Art moderne de le Ville de Paris, Centre Pompidou, Paris, the National Gallery, Prague, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek, CAC Brétigny, CAC Vilnius, Casino Luxembourg, the International Sinop Biennial, the Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, the Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, and at the ACT Independent Theatre Festival, Sofia. They are supported by Île-de-France Regional Cultural Affairs Office—Ministry of Culture and Communication—Structural Funding 2017 and by the Departmental Council of Essonne. Their action is supported by the Île-de-France Region. Annie Vigier & Franck Apertet live and work in Paris.
