Jérôme Bel wrote an ‘auto-bio-choreo-graphy’ about his work as a choreographer and his involvement with the world around him. As he no longer travels himself because of climate concerns, his story will be told and adapted in Amsterdam by local artists Maria Magdalena Kozłowska and Pankaj Tiwari.
In 2019, choreographer Jérôme Bel decided that he would no longer travel by plane because of ecological concerns. He created the project ‘Sustainable Theatre’ together with theatre director Katie Mitchell and Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne: two shows touring in the form of scripts with the text and a set of rules for the performance; the pieces are performed in a sustainable way by a local cast and crew in each country.
For the Holland Festival, the Netherlands-based makers Maria Magdalena Kozłowska and Pankaj Tiwari will realise this exciting concept in a smart and original way. Using video displays, they will tell the story in which Bel connects his earlier choreographies with his encounters, decisions, doubts and involvement. They will also draw on their own experiences as makers and connect these with those of Jérôme Bel.
The artistic research of Bel’s thirty-year career addresses fundamental questions about vulnerability, otherness, power relations, marginalisation, justice, equality, liberation from consumerism, capitalism and the showbiz society. Aged 33, Bel answered a journalist who asked why he made his work: ‘To save the world.’
Jérôme Bel is the second Sustainable Theatre production of the Holland Festival in collaboration with Frascati Productions. The first production was A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction from Katie Mitchel in 2022.
Credits
text & video Jérôme Bel direction Maria Magdalena Kozłowska, Pankaj Tiwari dramaturgy Miguel Melgares lights Nick Verstand performers Maria Magdalena Kozłowska, Pankaj Tiwari, Frederic Seguette, Claire Haenni, Gisèle Pelozuelo, Yseult Roch, Olga de Soto, Peter Vandenbempt, Sonja Augart, Simone Verde, Esther Snelder, Nicole Beutler, Eva Meyer Keller, Germana Civera, Benoît Izard, Ion Munduate, Cuqui Jerez, Juan Dominguez, Carine Charaire, Hester Van Hasselt, Dina Ed Dik, Amaia Urra, Carlos Pez, Henrique Neves, Johannes Sundrup, Véronique Doisneau, Damian Bright, Matthias Brücker, Remo Beuggert, Julia Häusermann, Tiziana Pagliaro, Miranda Hossle, Peter Keller, Gianni Blumer, Matthias Grandjean, Sara Hess, Lorraine Meier, Simone Truong, Akira Lee, Aldo Lee, Houda Daoudi, Cédric Andrieux, Chiara Gallerani, Taous Abbas, Stéphanie Gomes, Marie-Yolette Jura, Nicolas Garsault, Vassia Chavaroche, Magali Saby, Ryo Bel, Sheila Atala, Diola Djiba, Michèle Bargues, La Bourette, Catherine Gallant
production Holland Festival, Frascati Producties coproduction Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, R.B. Jérôme Bel (Parijs) STAGES - Sustainable Theatre Alliance for a Green Environmental Shift: Dramaten Stockholm, National Theater & Concert Hall, Taipei, NTGent, Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, Théâtre de Liège, Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, National Theatre of Croatia Zagreb, Slovene National Theatre Maribor, Trafo, MC93 — maison de la culture de Seine-Saint-Denis Bobigny with the support of Europese Unie thanks to Caroline Barneaud, Daphné Biiga Nwanak, Jolente De Keersmaeker, Zoé De Sousa, Florian Gaité, Chiara Gallerani, Danielle Lainé, Xavier Le Roy, Marie-José Malis, Frederic Seguette, Christophe Wavelet