Eastman
  • About
  • Projects
  • People
  • Places
  • Calendar
  • News
  • FR
  • EN
  • NL
  • Search
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Vimeo
  • Instagram

Projects

  • Overview
  • On tour
  • More Projects
Eastman -
Eastman -

Project /
Mea Culpa

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter

"Mea Culpa explores the world that our ancestors and roots have bequeathed to us. What are the foundations of our current civilization? At what price comes this comfort that we enjoy today, handed down to us by our parents and grandparents? This thought led me to the concepts of division, of hierarchy, conquest, colonization, thralldom of man by man, slavery, and pollution. To what degree are we responsible in regards to the deeds of those from whom we descend? Are we unfettered of their choices? Even the most sophisticated of our conceptions and life styles, ensue from this ancient, perhaps primal violence as well...

I am inspired among other things, by the work of the American artist Fred Wilson, who puts Colonial art and Renaissance sculptures in relation with each other.

The notion of thralldom has always seemed almost indefinable to me; in certain cases, the master serves the slave as much as the slave serves the master. This ambiguity strikes me all the more so as the roles inverse themselves infinitely. Like a game of chess, the history of the hierarchy is overturned in revolutions, in a game of power, between black and white, king and queen, past and present, parent and child, the served and the servant...
In which instant is this sentiment of wanting to be useful to others perverted to the point of feeling used by them? And when exactly does a sense of justice transform itself into guilt-feelings? Are we slaves to our desires or masters of our bodies?

The music of Heinrich Schütz, played by the Ensemble Akadêmia and conducted by Françoise Lasserre, falls between the Renaissance and the Baroque, and offers a dramaturgical canvas very similar to that of my precedent work: the history of Christianity, the collective unconscious of Europe. The scenographer Gilles Delmas and the lighting designer Dominique Drillot designed scenery made up of brilliant chandeliers which light a filthy Earth. Delmas saves the images from being trapped in cages, within frames and limits. Class, aristocracy, refinement and hand sewn quality characterize the costumes imagined by Karl Lagerfeld; black and white dominate, the epochs come together and unify in timeless dress which goes beyond fashion." - Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Premiere: 19 April 2006, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo - Monte-Carlo (MC)

Choreography
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Set design
Gilles Delmas
Dance
Les Ballets de Monte Carlo
Music composition
Heinrich Schütz
Live music
Ensemble Akadêmia
Assistant choreographer
Nicolas Vladyslav, Sri Louise
Costume design
Karl Lagerfeld
Light design
Dominique Drillot
Video design
Gilles Delmas
Producer
Les Ballets de Monte Carlo
Last modified: 08 May 2019
Eastman -
Eastman - Dominique Drillot

Dominique Drillot

Eastman -
Eastman -
Eastman -
Eastman -
Eastman -
Eastman -
Eastman - Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Eastman - Nicolas Vladyslav

Nicolas Vladyslav

Eastman -
Eastman -
Eastman -
Eastman -
  • © eastman2012
  • photo Koen Broos (unless otherwise stated)
  • website by Tentwelve

Newsletter


Unsubscribe

Unsubscribe

< back