Air-Condition
Air-Condition
Premiered on October 10, 2021 at the Maison de la Culture de Bourges
24 DANCERS
In 1954 Yves Klein proposed a ballet entitled, “LA GUERRE” (de la ligne et de la couleur) or (vers la proposition monochrome) – “The War” – (between line and colour) or (toward the monocrome). Although the manuscript is incomplete and was never staged, it had some clear musical, visual, and scenic intentions; ones that reflected a moment in history and yet still continue to be extremely relevant. On paper La Guerre was a grandiose, scenic manifestation of his physical and performative reflections on his art’s immateriality. Klein was a boundless creative energy, great influencer and participating member of the ZERO group. He was referred to as a modern mystic, and creator of air architecture and whose fanciful ideas even led him to his iconic leap into the void. Because of his energetic physicality, in his art practice as well through his Judo training, and his interest in the ephemeral, the fact that he proposed a “ballet” seems like a clear continuation of his creativity.
Air – Condition takes inspiration from Klein, animating ideas and concepts of the immaterial ephemeral experience he was so passionate about. There is a current and pressing relevance in the subject of the immaterial in light of the current state of our society. How are we engaging with our environment? How do we make visible the currents, vibrations and colours of our atmosphere in the search of a “less” material world? Choreographers Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley together with collaborating artist Tomas Saraceno, set to l'île re- sonante by Eliane Radique, want to make visual the resonating vibrations that surround us daily. Saraceno’s work has throughout his career questioned how we may inhabit the “air”, through his interest to remove our dependence on fossil fuels to the intricate systems of spider web construction. In this we can see a heritage of ideas and concepts passed down from Klein and his generation. Air – condition is a new creation that re-imagines questions posed by Yves Klein in 1954. What further sensibilities lie out there in the void? Lets take the leap and find out. The project is in collaboration with the Pompidou Metz and their exhibition Le ciel comme atelier – the sky as atelier.
Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley
Freely adapted from La Guerre (entre la ligne et la couleur) [War (between line and color)] by Yves Klein.
Production by the CCN - Ballet de Lorraine in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou-Metz through the project Artiste Associé.
Petter Jacobsson et Thomas Caley
Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley
The choreographers and dancers Petter Jacobsson and Thomas Caley, started collaborating in the nineteen nineties, choreographing works for Martha@Mother, the Joyce Soho in New York and the opera Staden for the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, a commission for the 1998 Cultural capital of Europe. For the Royal Swedish Opera, Ballet and Orchestra they created two immense Happenings, In nooks and crannies 2000 and 2001. The two different performances, occupied non-traditional performance spaces throughout the entire theatre.In 2005 they started their own company creating works entitled Nightlife, Untitled partner, Flux, No mans land - no lands man and The nearest nearness. In 2002 they received a “Goldmask” for the musical Chess with Björn Ulveus and Benny Andersson (ABBA).
As of 2011, Petter is choreographer and the Artistic Director and Thomas choreographer and the Coordinator of Research for the Centre Chorégraphique National - Ballet de Lorraine, Nancy. For the company they have created Untitled Partner #3, Performing Performing, Relâche, Armide, Discofoot, L’Envers, Record of ancient things, Happening Birthday, For Four Walls, Air-Condition and Mesdames et Messieurs.
Their programming for the CCN is organized around questions or themes and each year they invite a wide variety of artists both French and international to play and question within them.Their first programming season 2012, was entitled La saison de La. There they asked why is it Le Ballet but La dance? In response to this question of gender they presented solely female choreographers of diverse backgrounds. The season Tête à tête à têtes was a dialog focused on our modernity and its influences and connections with contemporary artists and spectators. Live! was a celebration of the ephemerality of the performing arts. Together with the continuing seasons, Folk + Danse = (R)évolution, Unknown Pleasures, 50 ans!, Fifty Plus, Useless Beauty, Fiction addiction, Ready! (Made) and tlm (Tout le monde) all have continued to challenge, celebrate and question. To insure a continued lively and non fixed use of the artform they have also worked with the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris and Centre Pompidou- Metz and Paris, and an original initiative LAB-BLA-BAL, a series of discussions and open house art experiments.
Born in Stockholm, Petter Jacobsson started his studies in dance at the age of three and was further educated at the Royal Swedish Ballet School, the School of American Ballet under Stanley Williams and he later graduated from the Vaganova Academy in St.Petersburg in 1982. As a principal dancer with the Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet in London between 1984 to 1993, he toured internationally dancing all of the renowned classical roles as well as appearing as guest artist with numerous international companies. He later moved to New York to begin a freelance career, dancing with Twyla Tharp Dance Company, Merce Cunningham Repertory group, Irene Hultman Dance and later with Deborah Hay. In 1999, Petter was appointed artistic director of the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm.
Thomas Caley started his dance training at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, he continued his education earning a BFA from Purchase College in upstate New York in 1992. After graduating from university, a year was spent experimenting, performing in a multitude of independent projects in New York City. From 1993 until 2000 he was a principle dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company touring throughout the world and participating in the creation of twelve new works. In 2000 he moved to Stockholm to continue his collaboration with Petter Jacobsson and to continue working as a freelance dancer in Europe, in France Thomas has worked with Boris Charmatz on the 50 ans de danse & flip book projects.
Tomás Saraceno
Tomás Saraceno was born in 1973 in Tucumán, Argentina. Having earned a master’s degree in architecture at the School of Fine Arts of Buenos Aires, Tomás Saraceno came to Europe to continue studying the beaux-arts at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, Germany, then earning another master’s degree in art and architecture at the IUAV University in Venice. He has since 2013 been working and living in Berlin. His work was shown at the 53rd Venice Biennial in 2009.
He was a resident artist at the National Center for Spatial Studies (2014– 2015), at the Center for art, science and technology at MIT (since 2012) and at the Calder workshop (2010), among others. His works are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York), at SFMOMA (San Francisco), at the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), and in the Nationalgalerie and the Staatliche Museen in Berlin.