X.DATES
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Mentioned as a fact that refers to a specific time, a date is a way of chronologizing facts in time. Our lives are unconsciously immersed in an infinite number of dates that have affected or affect the way we interact with the society in which we simultaneously act and observe.
Alban Ovanessian thus maintains in this new research this relationship between date and contextualization but integrates various mediums related to performativity (video, scenography, light, etc.) with the notion of time.
X.DATES introduces, through the use of the past tense, events that have already taken place and are therefore defined as concrete and inked in the memory, as well as future dates/events.
Narratives that transcend the notion of reality, inhabiting the realm of the imagination, are often associated with writers and artists. The stories told by the fiction genre are inherently false but can reveal a deeper truth about the world we live in than statistics or measurable facts.
The fictional genre possesses the transformative ability to present unexpected ideals linked to historical, social, and political realities; granting viewers and readers to consider new perspectives on the past, present, and future.
The future in this research is neither linked to possibility, supposition, hypothesis, nor projection but defined as absolute concreteness: to go through the past, the present, the future as if they could be thought, treated, physicalized in the same way. Allowing thus the spectator to envision and think up different realities: how might one manifest the future as though it were "here"?
Partly reproduction of reality, partly production of fiction, the audience is invited to question the degree of abstraction of these dates. What is the relation between time and experiences? Autobiography and fiction? Reality and abstraction?
The editing and sequencing of the dates become a process of research and narration through the classification of these dates: some dates are collated based on thematic resonance, on chronological order, while some are united by their inherent opposition.
Thus, X.DATES is operated as a utopian laboratory, an experimental investigation highlighting various themes and exploitations of reality. Raising the following issues: how to physicalize these dates ? How to present them in a narrative structure to the spectator ?
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DURATION OF THE WORK - 50 min.
LANGUAGES - English(version) or French(version) with subtitles.
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CONCEPT/PERFORMANCE - Alban Ovanessian
SOUND DESIGN - Lisa Laurent
VOICE RECORDING, IA - Noam Rzewski
COSTUME DESIGN - Remi Vergnanini
LIGHT DESIGN - Remco Wuyts
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SUPPORTED BY - Festival d'Automne Paris 2018, Centre National de la Danse, P.A.R.T.S, Norrdans, Marc/Milvus Artistic Research Center, Kustenwerkplaats Pianofabriek, Heima Arts Residency, Art and Cultural Studies Laboratory of Yerevan, Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinematography, Ad Lib Belgium Libittum Lavallee, P.A.R.T.S Summer Residencies, Rites Festival.
Video by REGAL PRODUCTIONS.
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