5 minute read
The Ephemeral Life of an Octopus
↑ — Léa Tirabasso ©Elsa Petit
People United Magazin
Thomas Stern, ‘The Human and the Octopus’
The Ephemeral Life of an Octopus is absurd and grotesque, playful and liberating. It questions the strangeness of having a body: healthy and vigorous, suffering and damaged, punctured and probed, wild and animalistic.
The piece is inspired by studies of the evolution of cancer cells and the lived experience of illness. At once scientific, philosophical, and visceral, the piece looks at the dysfunction, chaos and vibrant life force of the body from within and without.
Léa Tirabasso
With her latest work The Ephemeral Life of an Octopus, Léa is one of the Twenty20 Aerowaves Artists.
As a choreographer, Léa is interested in how emotional and physical states generate movements. Her previous works toured in the UK, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, and South-Korea.
As a dancer, she worked with Johannes Wieland, Stephanie Thiersch, Michael Langeneckert (DE), Chris Haring (AT), José Vidal (CL), Clod Ensemble, Seke Chimuntengwende, Seven Sisters Group (UK), Jean-Guillaume Weis, Bernard Baumgarten (LU), Nicole Seiler (CH) and Omar Rajeh (LB). For two seasons, she was a full-time member of the TanzTheater Ensemble in Kassel (DE), under the direction of Johannes Wieland.
Léa has been teaching workshops internationally and is a guest speaker to University College London. She is one of charity’s Eve Appeal Ambassadors.
Choreographer and Director Léa Tirabasso
With the collaboration of the dancers Catarina Barbosa, Alistair Goldsmith, Joachim Maudet, Rosie Terry Toogood
Composer Martin Durov
Lighting designer Nicolas Tremblay
Project manager Mathis Junet
Associate producer Hattie Gregory
Scientific advisors Adeola Olaitan, François Eisinger
Philosophy advisors Thomas Stern
Animal transformation coach Gabrielle Moleta
Video by Bohumil Kostohryz
↑ — Ephemeral Life of an Octopus ©Bohumil Kostohryz
THE HUMAN AND THE OCTOPUS A Philosopher’s Sickness by Tom Stern
Can art exist without pain or is it a form of coping mechanism for you?
I do not know. Art helps, entertains, enlightens, provokes, asksquestion. It heals, too.
Is art work or your work art?
Art work.
Do you think you could stop making art?
No. It might take another form, I might one day use another material,but art will always be part of my life. It is when I draw firetrucks with my son.
When working on a new project—does it originate in your mind or body?
In my body first.
Where do you feel connection? In your body, mind,heart, head?
In my belly.
Are you a body or do you have it? Body over mind or mind over body?
Dislocated mind and body. Often working as a whole, sometimesdislocated. I sometimes lose the connections.
Do you think that the spheres female and male are still relevant categories that we humans need to define society?
I am not sure. I love being a female, identifying as a female. I lovewhat I fight for, what it stands for.
The art world is still a male dominated sphere that acts in patriarchal hierarchies. What is your experience with that?
I have not yet been completely damaged by it. It nearly happened,as a mother bringing my kids around to rehearsals andperformances—often people are supportive. Sometimes inhumanand, dare I say, mean.
Is playfulness important in creation?
Yes!! Creation is playful!
What are you struggling with in life? And which one was your most important one?
Time. Health. Fear of death.
Do you feel closer to people when making art with them?
Yes. Without words and without acknowledging it. A tacit bond iscreated.
Is your art like an intimate partner or is it a process you birthed?
A process I birthed.
Do you feel or produce art?
Both…!
When do you feel lonely?
When I am not sure where I am going in life.
When do you feel powerful?
When feel full of life and love, rooted. When I am creatingwith integrity. When I don’t give a fuck.
Do you feel powerful by yourself or within your community?
By myself.
Does your community empower you?
It probably does too.
Is art necessary?
Yes.
What makes you happy?
Eating chocolate after each meal.
Is art your answer to the world or to yourself?
It is my question to the world.
Where do you carry your feelings?
In my belly.
Can you let go of emotions when you processed them through art?
I can surely face them, watch them, and understand them better.
Are you an idealist or realist?
That’s a heard one. Probably a realist!
What opens your heart?
Laughter. Smiles.
Does your body keep the score?
No!
Is your mind ever quiet? And if yes, what do you hear or see in these moments?
No...!
Do you experience moments or are you the moment?
I am the moment. Only because I can’t find the time to experienceit, it reassures me to answer that I am.
Breathe in—breathe out. What’s your first thought now?
That my kids are quiet now... strange…
How is your relationship with money?
I am afraid of not having enough money, of not being able to offera decent life to my kids. Holidays, universities, flats when they goto uni etc.
Are you producing your own art?
Yes. In collaboration with a producer though.
How is your relationship with the performance art market?
Tricky. I love the adrenaline of networking. I love sharing my workand the danger it represents somehow: Will it «work» or not? Willit «sell»? Will it make me «live»?
…
How is your relationship with nature?
I am in awe in front of nature.
Do you believe in society?
Yes.
Do you believe in politics?
Not sure. I feel disconnected from politics.
Your politics of intimacy?
Don’t be ashamed.
The past?
The past. Mine is very present.
The future?
The future, ungraspable. I am unable to project myself in more than one year from now. Fear of death.
The NOW?
What?
Are you here? Present?
If not: Where are you?
Sleeping under.
What is the I, the me?
The sum of experiences. Yet also, the nothing else, the now, the gone, the little deaths.
What is the you?
The look out.
How is your relationship with mortality?
Fascinated, yet scared. Destiny.
How is your relationship with death?
Intrigued, yet afraid.
Your own death?
I go to bed each night fearing I would not wake up.
Somebody else’s death?
I am afraid for my kids.
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People United Magazin
Gefördert vom Fonds Darstellende Künste aus Mitteln der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien im Rahmen von NEUSTART KULTUR
