Programmation 2015-16 — English

saison

2015/2016

le lieu unique scène nationale de Nantes

Programmation 15-16 theatre dance exhibitions circus music events

Contacts : AurĂŠlie Denis aurelie.denis@lelieuunique.com / t. +33 2 51 82 15 03 Margot Dubreuil margot.dubreuil@lelieuunique.com / t. +33 2 51 82 15 44

THEATRE

THEATRE 2015/2016

Das Weisse vom Ei (Une île flottante) Christoph Marthaler, Anna Viebrock, Malte Ubenauf and the actors, adapted from the play by Eugène Labiche For his first time at le lieu unique, Christoph Marthaler – the acclaimed Swiss director of omnibus plays – offers a very free adaptation of La poudre aux yeux, Eugène Labiche’s hilarious play where two bourgeois families (that of Emmeline Malingear and Frédéric Ratinois) meet and confront one another. The result is as exhilarating as it is melancholic.

Tuesday 13 to Saturday 17 October 2015, 8:30 pm (except Saturday : 7:00 pm) In German with French subtitles IN COOPERATION WITH LE GRAND T, THÉÂTRE DE LOIRE-ATLANTIQUE

System Failure Compagnie System Failure ages 7 and up Four “specialists” who are heavily influenced by sci-fi storylines – especially the plot for the film, Red Planet – have spent months developing a prototype programme capable of anticipating the present and satisfying spectator demands, all in real time.

The collective System Failure invites us on a thrilling and joyful romp through science-fiction theatre. Here, nothing is perfect, and total breakdown is always possible. Lampooning and pleasant surprises await.

Monday 26, Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 October 2015, 8:30 pm PART OF THE FESTIVAL DES UTOPIALES

La Cerisaie (The Cherry Orchard) tg STAN adapted from the play by Tchekhov original creation 2015 The Flemish collective, tg STAN, is returning to Nantes where we still vividly recall their anti-dogmatic and resolutely actororiented theatre. After Uncle Vanya, Ivanov, The Three Sisters, Point Blank (Platonov) and A Marriage Proposal, tg STAN once again explores Chekhov’s oeuvre by voraciously tackling The Cherry Orchard. Considered by many to be the perfect “antiplay,» it is at once disturbing, evasive and has kept actors and directors fatally spellbound for the past 111 years.

Beyond any doubt, tg STAN’s theatrical skill will make this version of The Cherry Orchard a must-see.

Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 November 2015, 8:30 pm

THEATRE 2015/2016 Le bruit court que nous ne sommes plus en direct L’Avantage du Doute original creation 2015 Having already graced our stage in 2013 with their (delightful) last show, La Légende de Bornéo, theatre company L’Avantage du Doute returns to le lieu unique this season with an original creation examining our relationship to images in general and screens in particular, managing to do so in an inventive way while keeping their critical distance.

Using the evolution of media, television and especially information, L’Avantage du Doute explores this ultracontemporary phenomenon in both its political and social aspects, opening up an intimate and collective imaginary that is as old as time.

Tuesday 8 to Saturday 12 December 2015, 8:30 pm (except Saturday, 7:00 pm)

Mundo Mantra Guillaume Bariou original creation 2015 Musician, artist and musical arranger for the performing arts, Guillaume Bariou has adapted the novel Mantra by Argentinian author Rodrigo Fresan for the stage using Mexico City as its starting point. But, more than a book on Mexico, it is first and foremost a feverish dream that owes much of its form to the cut-up style of William Burroughs and J. G. Ballard.

Tuesday 23, Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 February 2016, 8:30 pm at Le TU-Nantes IN COOPERATION WITH LE TU-NANTES

Nos serments Julie Duclos After trying her hand at Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments, Julie Duclos continues to explore the mysteries of love. By basing this show on Jean Eustache’s The Mother and the Whore, she questions the possibility of our loving one another differently in Nos serments – an eternal question that some tried to answer in the 1970s, burning themselves in the process. Over the course of their desires and their loves, the five actors (all of whom were trained at the Conservatoire de Paris) excel and reinterpret post-May 68 euphoria through the prism of our present era.

A present-tense they would like to be able to leave in order to be able to live.

Monday 7, Tuesday 8 and Wednesday 9 March 2016, 8:30 pm

Le sorelle Macaluso Emma Dante Emma Dante is an important figure in the international theatre scene and was discovered nearly 10 years ago at le lieu unique.

She now creates worlds inhabited by sublime creatures or tender nightmares. This Sicilian actress, director and author has chosen to stage seven sisters from an Italian family who settle their scores outside of the present tense. Both poignant and spectacular, Le sorelle Macaluso offers spectators moments of grace and a theatrical experience of rare beauty.

Tuesday 22, Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 March 2016, 8:00 pm at the Grand T IN COOPERATION WITH THE GRAND T, THÉÂTRE DE LOIRE-ATLANTIQUE

THEATRE 2015/2016 L’Avare (The Miser) Ludovic Lagarde Those who saw Ludovic Lagarde’s Retour définitif et durable de l’être aimé (2003), Fairy Queen (2005), Richard III (2007), and/or Un nid pour quoi faire (2010) at le lieu unique will most certainly still remember these shows. Today, this stage director and head of the Comédie de Reims theatre tackles a French classic for the first time – and not just any: Molière’s L’Avare (The Miser), with the fabulous Laurent Poitrenaux in the role of Harpagon.

Tuesday 10, Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 May 2016, 8:30 pm

Atlas Ana Borralho & Joao Galante Atlas brings together roughly one hundred men and women of Nantes to have their identities be heard, offering a new way to map out a city through its inhabitants. This show offers a rare occasion to reduce the border between actor and spectator to zero, thereby retransforming the theatre into a political space.

Whether they are shopkeepers, students in primary school or university, fire fighters, waiters or unemployed, they have all decided to walk on stage, announce their identity, and create a temporary micro-society. As the ultimate collective experience, Atlas widens the scope of art to life in all its complexity.

Friday 3 June, 8:30 pm and Saturday 4 June 2016, 7:00 pm

DANCE

DANCE 2015/2016 Belle d’Hier Compagnie Non Nova / Phia Ménard original creation 2015 Once a man, but now a woman, the juggler, performer, scenographer and stage director, Phia Ménard occupies a truly singular place in contemporary French performing arts. In her new play, Belle d’Hier, she takes on myths and material.

On stage, five “enraged” women tackle the old idea that, “one day, my daughter, you will be a princess and meet prince charming.” Over the course of a fairy tale ball devoid of any mushy sentimentality, the actresses of Phia Ménard remove their shells and turn the stage into a battlefield.

Tuesday 3 to Friday 6 November 2015, 8:30 pm LE LIEU UNIQUE COPRODUCTION IN COOPERATION WITH LE GRAND T, THÉÂTRE DE LOIRE-ATLANTIQUE

ad noctum Christian Rizzo original creation 2015 A major figure of the contemporary dance scene, Christian Rizzo is at the centre of the Constellation programme: a series of shows, performances and other events organized with Le TUNantes.

For this second edition, he returns with a full programme, including his brand new creation ad noctum. Written for two of Rizzo’s emblematic dancers, this piece features Kerem Gelebek, seen in d’après une histoire vraie, and Julie Guibert, from last season’s b.c, January 1545, fontainebleau. This show draws from the vast repertoire of “couple’s dances” and falls within a choreographic quest to lend new visibility to motifs taken from popular, and sometimes anonymous, dances.

Wednesday 4 and 5 November 2015, 8:30 pm at Le TU-Nantes LE LIEU UNIQUE COPRODUCTION

JOHN DV8 Physical Theatre / Lloyd Newson For the past thirty years, the English company DV8 Physical Theatre has questioned traditional aesthetics and the forms of classic and modern dance, but also – and especially – they have explored complex social problems (old age, disability, racism).

Seeing a Lloyd Newson show – the artistic director that The New York Times called the “Sex Pistols of dance, or almost” in 1988 – means confronting the things one does not always want to see or know. JOHN, a piece for eight dancers, describes real stories that combine movement and the power of pronounced words to create an intense theatrical experience that is both moving and poignant.

Wednesday 2, Thursday 3 and Friday 4 December 2015 at Le Grand T IN COOPERATION WITH THE GRAND T, THÉÂTRE DE LOIRE-ATLANTIQUE

DANCE 2015/2016 69 positions Mette Ingvartsen Danish choreographer and dancer Mette Ingvartsen made a name for herself in April 2014 at le lieu unique with her The Artificial Nature Project – a visual maelstrom that left its mark on us.

Today, she returns with 69 positions – a solo show for 60 spectators addressing sexual liberation, as well as the exposed and shared body.

Funny, sensual, arousing and informative, Mette Ingvartsen’s performance offers deep, joyful and contemporary food for thought on the subjects of the body and sexuality.

Friday 4 December 2015 at 8:30 pm and Saturday 5 at 7:00 pm PROGRAMMED AS PART OF TRANSCENDANSE

Potlatch Olivia Grandville A few weeks before her brand new show (Combat de Carnaval et Carême), Olivia Grandville presents an atypical project in the form of a video installation and a performance with local amateur or professional dancers. Potlatch culture was originally practised in Amerindian tribes among many ethnic groups along the Pacific Ocean, and all the way to the Indies. In this gift-giving ceremony, one person offers another an object according to the importance he/she grants it. In exchange, they will receive one of equivalent value based on the giver’s judgment. Through this ritual, participants will also be invited to share.

Friday 4, Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December 2015, free admission PROGRAMMED AS PART OF TRANSCENDANSE

Combat de Carnaval et Carême Olivia Grandville original creation 2016 After an initial career as a performer (working with Dominique Bagouet, in particular) Olivia Grandville has developed her own choreographic language over the past twenty years.

Combat de Carnaval and Carême (The Fight Between Carnival and Lent) is a continuation of Foules, her previous show, which was designed using dance notation inspired by the work of Dutch visual artist Aernout Mik. While working on Foules, and establishing the protocol of the score for her new piece, Olivia Grandville discovered the Brueghel painting, which is an allegory for time. The painting takes the form of a large calendar marked by moments of feasting and austerity, brimming with life and filled with secret passageways. The choreographer also explores carnivalesque excess with respect to dance – one she would like to see unfold here through physical exertion and as many performers on stage as possible!

Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 January 2016, 8:30 pm LE LIEU UNIQUE COPRODUCTION

DANCE 2015/2016 Je danse parce que je me méfie des mots Kaori Ito original creation 2015 After studying classical ballet in Japan, dancing alongside Philippe Decouflé, Angelin Preljocaj or Les Ballets C de la B and co-writing the choreography to Aurélien Bory’s Plexus, Kaori Ito now explores her own roots in more intimate shows.

For this brand new creation, she has invented a new choreographic language exploring the idea of filiation in duo with her father, the renowned Japanese sculptor.

Friday 22 January 2016, 8:30 pm and Saturday 23, 7:00 pm LE LIEU UNIQUE COPRODUCTION

sakinan göze çöp batar (c’est l’œil que tu protèges qui sera perforé) Christian Rizzo Several months after creating ad noctum as part of the Constellation programme, Christian Rizzo presents a solo show written for Kerem Gelebek. The piece takes place entirely in a wooden box which the dancer slowly empties out. Designed and written for Kerem Gelebek, this show was born from the choreographer’s desire to dance once again – a desire that would quickly reveal itself to be paradoxical, since its movements came to him, but not ones he knew he could himself perform. At that point, he offered the Turkish dancer, Kerem Gelebek (whom he met in 2008 and has worked with ever since) to work together on a solo performance based on the notions of exile and melancholy – an exile that is existential in nature, rather than geographical.

Wednesday 2 and Tuesday 3 March 2016, 8:30 pm at Le TU-Nantes IN COOPERATION WITH LE TU-NANTES

Drumming Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker There are some artists that is always delighted to rediscover.

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker is one of them. From Bach to Coltrane, the Flemish choreographer has spent over thirty years focussing on the relationship between dance and music.

Drumming (1998) is one of her most fascinating shows. A spectacular choreographic exploit using a powerful percussion score by Steve Reich, the minimalist New York composer who had worked on her very first show, Fase (1982).

Friday April 1st 2016, 8:30 pm and Saturday the 2nd, 7:00 pm

CIRCUS

CIRCUS 2015/2016 Hallo Martin Zimmermann ages 10 and up Artist Martin Zimmermann has garnered attention at le lieu unique for his work alongside Dimitri de Perrot in Öper Öpis (2011) and Hans Was Heiri (2012), breathing new life into the world of acrobatics, dance and stage illusions. For this original creation, this genius DIYer has invented a space that resembles a department store window, where he himself performs along with his tragicomic double, and confronts his desire to become the man he believes himself to be. For the first time in his career, Zimmermann has created a solo piece where he tries to harness his fantasies using a strong dose of wild humour and baffling precision.

Tuesday 26, Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 January 2016, 8:30 pm

Celui qui tombe Yoann Bourgeois ages 10 and up Yoann Bourgeois has been making a name for himself since 2010 when he created his dance company after several years spent alongside choreographer Maguy Marin. He has largely stood out for his work on the simulacrum, which is known for its powerful decors.

Unique and defying all categories, Yoann Bourgeois’ work brings together dance, acrobatics and theatre. Celui qui tombe is the perfect example, with its performers who abandon themselves to an hour-long balancing act on an unstable plank with a driving force they cannot control.

Thursday 17, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 March 2016, 8:30 pm (except the 19th at 7:00 pm)

Aléas Chloé Moglia ages 12 and up Chloé Moglia delighted audiences with her skills as a trapeze artist in a variation of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (Le Vertige, in collaboration with Olivia Rosenthal). Although she has abandoned her trapeze since then, her fascination for dizzying heights remains intact. With Aléas, this expert artist and her five female performers manoeuvre above the audience’s heads without a safety net as they watch in total awe. Always described as precise, subtle, and intelligent, this acrobat continues to toy tirelessly with the laws of gravity.

Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 April, 8:30 pm

MUSIC

MUSIC 2015/2016 Caravaggio plays L’amour est un crime parfait Caravaggio is a band made up of four musical mavericks.

In 2014, they worked with the Larrieu Brothers to compose the music for their film Love is a Perfect Crime – a fantastical thriller adapted from Philippe Djian’s novel, Incidences. They continue their collaboration here, only this time on stage, offering a musical and cinematic experience that is brand new and fascinating, where the two directors project their film and toy with the sound, dialogue and live sounds produced by Caravaggio. This is an opportunity to get a new perspective on the film, and a new way to show films in general.

Tuesday 22 September 2015, 8:30 pm

Vox Bigerri Since 2005, Vox Bigerri (an all-male choir of five singers) has filled their repertoire with the polyphonic traditions of Occitania and Southern Europe, from the Basque Country to Catalonia by way of Gascogne, Corsica, Sardinia and Northern Italy. For their tenth anniversary, the choir issues a new challenge to polyphonic music with the project ligams, bringing together roughly fifteen songs (from Bigorre and Béarn) and exploring the bonds between five singers who bring their different voices together to create one.

Thursday 8 October 2015, 8:30 pm at Chapelle de l’Immaculée

Feu ! Chatterton 1st part : Flegmatic With their dusky soundscapes, these five dandies have actively participated in the revival of the French music scene (Grand Blanc, La Femme, Lescop, etc.) with lyrics one does not easily forget. You can hear Feu ! Chatterton’s affection for Bashung, Ferré or Gainsbourg – but also Joy Division, Arcade Fire or Television.

Ex-members of the group Hiddentracks, Flegmatic’s new and aptly titled album, L’Esprit de conquête (The Spirit of Conquest), is a solid collection of poisonous and addictive tracks, where the absurd rivals the poetic.

Friday 23 October 2015, 8:30 pm IN COOPERATION WITH LA BOUCHE D’AIR

MUSIC 2015/2016

Kraftwerk 3-D Mixing music, video and performance art, Kraftwerk’s 3D concerts are a Gesamtkunstwerk – a total work of art.

After their triumphant 2014 retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, the mythical German group comes to Nantes for the first time as part of a four-concert tour throughout France.

Monday 9 November 2015, 8:30 pm at La Cité IN COOPERATION WITH LA CITÉ, THE NANTES CONVENTION CENTRE

Silvain Vanot + Arlt feat. Mocke et Thomas Bonvalet + Orso Jesenska Fête Souterraine La Souterraine is a wobbly topography of the French music scene, and a backwards ethno-musicological approach. Whether easily identifiable or appearing to emerge from the shadows, the artists revealed by this platform are not afraid of straddling opposing styles. The proof is this evening’s concert, which is just one of the stops along the Fil rouge La Souterraine programme.

Saturday 21 November 2015, 8:30 pm

In Dreams, David Lynch revisited With : Stuart Staples (Tindersticks) - Jehnny Beth (Savages) - Mick Harvey - Conor O’ Brien (Villagers) - Cibo Matto - Stealing Sheep - Sophia Brous - Kirin J Callinan No filmmaker has integrated music into cinema with as much impact as David Lynch. From the romantic songs of Twin Peaks to the dark violence of Blue Velvet or Lost Highway’s iconic scenes, sound is an essential element in Lynch’s films. With In Dreams, David Lynch Revisited, the English musician David Coulter offers a concert-performance where the soundtrack comes from the director’s films themselves. The House Band – the instrumental ensemble with Coulter as artistic director – shares the stage with roughly ten performers, the majority of whom are from the indie rock scene. Among them are Stuart Staples (singer for The Tindersticks) and Mick Harvey.

Monday 23 November 2015, 8:30 pm at La Cité IN COOPERATION WITH LA CITÉ, THE NANTES CONVENTION CENTRE

La Folk Journée The Color Bars Experience plays Elliott Smith with Jason Lytle, Troy Von Balthazar & Ken Stringfellow + Anonymous Choir sings Leonard Cohen + Adrian Crowley plays Jackson C. Frank If La Folle Journée is a festival honouring classical music every year in January, La Folk Journée is dedicated to the heroes of folk music through a tribute concert and cover songs. For this third edition, the music of Elliott Smith, Leonard Cohen and Jackson C. Frank will be revisited by musicians from very different horizons.

Wednesday 16 December 2015, 8:30 pm

MUSIC 2015/2016 Mulatu Astatke Just over 70 years young, the father of ethio-jazz continues to grace concert stages all over the world. The music of vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke is both fascinating and hypnotic, thanks to his savvy mix of East African sounds, jazz melodies, and the rhythmic vibrations of Latin music.

Tuesday 2 February, 8:30 pm PART OF JAZZ EN PHASE

Gesualdo Madrigaux pour 5 guitares With Noel Akchoté, Mary Halvorson, Adam Levy, Julien Desprez and Doug Wamble Accompanied on stage by four exceptional guitarists, Noel Akchoté offers a reinterpretation of Gesualdo’s sublime Madrigals.

This impressive stylistic experiment and the skill required to translate the emotion of five voices into guitars using only the original sheet music is breathtaking. Noel Akchoté offers us an updated version of one of the great masterworks of Renaissance music.

Sunday 21 February 2016, 7:00 pm PART OF THE FESTIVAL #CÂBLE

Marathon !

With Pierre Henry + Dopplereffekt + Christian Zanési & Arnaud Rebotini + Cabaret Contemporain joue Kraftwerk This festival has been designed to be a musical marathon, a space for different genres to come together that influence one another but rarely ever meet.

As in a dream, the festival brings together contemporary and electronic music, from the likes of Pierre Henry to Kraftwerk, by way of Steve Reich, Arnaud Rebotini and Dopplereffekt...

Marathon ! commissioned a brand new piece from Pierre Henry.

As always, he will play it from his sound board for a performance that only he knows the secret to, offering listeners a rare and precious concert.

Saturday 26 March 2016, 8:30 pm

Albert Marcoeur & Quatuor Béla Albert Marcœur is among those artists known as musiciens premiers – musicians that have founded their own musical universe, without any overbearing influence or ad hoc reference.

Marcœur’s musical patchworks often verge on the absurd, making him a unique artist who uses poetry and humour, and who stubbornly insists on blending together the most disparate elements.

Tuesday 19 April 2016, 8:30 pm PART OF THE FESTIVAL UN WEEK-END SINGULIER

MUSIC 2015/2016 Pascal Dusapin End of residency concert original creation 2015 Pascal Dusapin has been the guest-composer of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire for the past two years and is considered to be one of the most important in contemporary music today. He will perform his end-of-residency concert at le lieu unique with four pieces that reveal his immense musical universe.

Thursday 21 April 2016, 8:30 pm IN COOPERATION WITH L’ONPL

Exposed Songs for Unseen Warhol Films Tom Verlaine + Martin Rev + Dean Wareham + Eleanor Friedberger + Bradford Cox This exceptional ciné-concert will reveal 15 never-before-seen short films by Andy Warhol, all to the sounds of A-list musicians, like Tom Verlaine from the mythical group Television, Eleonore Friedberger ex-Fiery Furnaces, and Martin Rev of Suicide.

Andy Warhol’s films are provocative milestones of underground cinema and American counterculture. For its twentieth anniversary, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh commissioned Dean Wareham, front man of the cult groups Luna and Galaxie 500, for a new project involving a buried treasure : 15 unseen screen tests with a series of celebrities ranging from Marcel Duchamp to Donovan by way of John Giorno, Mario Montez, Jim Rosenquist, Billy Klüver, Marisol, Taylor Mead, Mary Woronov, the fascinating Edie Sedgwick, and Andy Warhol himself.

Wednesday 18 May 2016, 8:30 pm

La Monte Young Tribute Performance With Étienne Jaumet + Sonic Boom + Céline Wadier original creation 2015 Echoing the Velvet Underground exhibition at the Philharmonie de Paris, le lieu unique is presenting a tribute to the music of La Monte Young – a major influence on John Cale’s and Lou Reed’s group – played by a first-ever and atypical trio. Two lieu unique regulars will help celebrate the spiritual father of drone music: Peter Kember, aka Sonic Boom, co-founder of Spacemen 3 with Jason Pierce (and perhaps the most delightful heir to the VU), and Étienne Jaumet, one half of Zombie Zombie and expert of hallucinogenic synthesizers. They will be accompanied by Céline Wadier, a specialist of Dhrupad singing who was raised on Kate Bush and Erik Satie. Together, they will offer audiences the most unique of musical programmes.

Friday 20 May 2016, 8:30 pm IN COOPERATION WITH LA PHILHARMONIE DE PARIS

SYSTEMA OCCAM Xavier Veilhan With subtlety and finesse, visual artist Xavier Veilhan offers an incredibly precise backdrop to one of composer Éliane Radigue’s major works, acting as a silent prelude that suspends time for the audience and allows them to dive headfirst into sound. Using a series of tiny rituals and silent choreographies, Xavier Veilhan prepares the spectator for a rare moment during which the public can feel their bodies and minds opening up to welcome the telluric and vibratory sounds of Rhodry Davies dragging two bows across the strings of her harp.

Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 June 2016, 9:30 pm

EXHIBITIONS

EXHIBITIONS 2015/2016

Mind The Map Time’s Up Art collective Time’s Up has spent two years deciphering the past, present and future of many socio-economic developments in order to highlight phenomena linked to Neo-imperialism and migration through their knowledge of the sea and its laws. Their last work, Mind the Map, is the fruit of this research.

15 September to 11 October 2016 LE LIEU UNIQUE COPRODUCTION

Jules Verne, grand écran original creation 2015 Jules Verne? Even without reading any of his books, we have all seen one of his films. This monster of the silver screen has over 300 movies to his credit.

For roughly twenty years, this phenomenon has interested specialists who have written books and articles on the subject.

With a wealth of documents recently acquired by the Musée Jules Verne, the exhibition Jules Verne, grand écran (“Jules Verne and the Big Screen”) eruditely highlights the close ties existing between the writer and cinema 29 October 2015 to 3 January 2016 COPRODUCTION WITH LE MUSÉE JULES VERNE (NANTES MÉTROPOLE)

Mille plateaux Pascal Dusapin People know Pascal Dusapin through his music, which can be described as free and imbued with a certain classicism, without renouncing the avant-garde. There isn’t a musical style that Pascal Dusapin has not tried at some point.

Mille Plateaux marks a new step in the work of this composer, who is considered to be one of the most important in the world.

14 January to 7 February 2016 LE LIEU UNIQUE COPRODUCTION

Collection Morel, Les machines célibataires original creation 2015 After exploring the idea of spatial epiphanies, Collection Morel – Marie-Pierre Bonniol’s curatorial project on the imagination – is turning towards the concept of movement and stopping in Nantes as part of the locus solus program with an exhibition on les machines célibataires (“bachelor machines”). This symbolic figure of the human condition was born with the 20th century and further developed in the 1950s by the author Michel Carrouges. From this modern exegesis, visuals were printed by Collection Morel, presenting the restored images. Other pieces, like Pierre Bastien’s “Paper Orchestra,” will also be on display.

19 February to 13 March 2016

EXHIBITIONS 2015/2016

Guy Brunet réalisateur : le studio Paravision As a self-taught artist who has always strayed (very) far from academic paths, along the outskirts of art brut, Guy Brunet has always been a highly atypical creator – and one who is still largely unknown to the general public. Curators Charles Soubeyran and Mario del Curto present a colourful exhibition in Nantes designed to pay homage to this improbable and prolific creator. The show presents a complete set of Guy Brunet’s works and offers visitors a chance to stroll through Paravision Studios among Brunet’s characters, décors, and posters.

13 April to 29 May 2016 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LA COLLECTION DE L’ART BRUT AND L’ASSOCIATION DES AMIS DE L’ART BRUT

Groumf !

Pierre La Police original creation 2015 As an illustrator spotted in magazines and newspapers, like Les Inrocks, Libération, and Le Monde, a director of various TV series for Canal + (Mini Pim Poum, La parole de vie), Pierre La Police has also exhibited his contemporary art work (Galerie Kamel Mennour, Arts Factory, etc.) and published his drawings in a number of books (Editions Cornélius and Item). GROUMPF ! is his first solo art show in a French institution, and a rare opportunity to show the multidisciplinarity of his work.

13 April to 29 May 2016

Léviathan et ses fantômes Léviathan et ses fantômes (Leviathan and its Ghosts) invites visitors to an audiovisual, deep-sea dive into the ocean, with its endless womb-like seascapes, explored here through the prism of industrial fishing. Using digital video, sound and still images, Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel offer visitors different physical and metaphysical portraits of the oceanic world, embedding it all in the long history of transforming seafarers into photographic and cinematic images – David Octavius Hill, Robert Adamson, Robert Flaherty, John Grierson, etc. Their work nevertheless resists this tradition’s romantic idealization and anthropocentrism, seeking instead a less sentimental relationship between human and marine worlds.

Summer 2016

EVENTS

EVENTS 2015/2016 Fil rouge La Souterraine Through their website La Souterraine and its musical compilations, Benjamin Caschera and Laurent Bajon have fully exposed France’s underground and disparate musical scene in a matter of months, while avoiding all aesthetic dogma. Acting as an inventory of the underground music scene living below the radar of French media, La Souterraine will be present at le lieu unique throughout the entire season, like a common thread running through several Fêtes Souterraines to which only they hold the secret.

Fête Souterraine #1 - Friday 11 September 2015, starting at 10:00 pm, free admission with Chevalrex + Requin Chagrin + Gratuit + Mostla Soundsystem Fête Souterraine #2 - Saturday 21 November 2015, starting at 8:30 pm, €12 with Silvain Vanot + Arlt feat. Mocke & Thomas Bonvalet + Orso Jesenska Fête Souterraine #3 - Saturday 12 December 2015, starting at 8:30 pm, free admission with Lenparrot + Sourdure + Remi Parson + Mostla Soundsystem

Hors Format For the second year in a row, le lieu unique is hosting Hors Format, an event organized by the Comptoir du doc (Rennes) and Les Ateliers du Doc (Nantes). It offers the public a chance to (re)discover a type of documentary cinema that ignores borders separating eras, authors and countries, revolving instead around poetic works that are sometimes funny, often surprising, and always unexpected. Sitting at the crossroads of different styles, Hors Format offers screenings presented by filmmakers, as well as encounters, and workshops. There will also be video correspondence installations between artists from Rennes and Nantes, where this year’s theme is, “Je ne suis pas un héros !” (“I’m not a hero!”) .

Tuesday 22 to Tuesday 29 September, free admission

Festival D For its second edition, le lieu unique and the association PING invite you to meet a new generation of DIYers who have emerged with the new digital era. These men and women share diagrams and online applications, manufacture, create, reappropriate, and repair machines in fab labs and hackerspaces. For two days, you can discover this doit-yourself world, which abounds with inventive projects that are quirky and creative, filled with conferences and concerts, and practical workshops for young and old. All of it is part of this convivial and festive event.

Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2015, free admission

Les Géopolitiques de Nantes Following the success of the two first editions of Les Géopolitiques de Nantes, le lieu unique and the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (Iris), with the support of Nantes Métropole, invite one and all to participate in the 3rd edition of this annual two-day event. Fifteen round table discussions with roughly sixty lecturers will be present to decipher the strategic challenges with which the world is currently confronted.

Explaining, offering perspectives, and multiplying exchanges between specialists and the public are the objectives of this important forum.

Friday 2 and Saturday 3 October 2015, free admission

Les Rencontres de Sophie Every year, le lieu unique and Philosophia invite the public to participate in a philosophical weekend known as Les Rencontres de Sophie. Conferences, round tables, debates, cabinets de l’historien, and abecedaries all revolve around a theme that is studied and questioned from a philosophical, but also scientific, artistic, or political perspective.

Philosophers, anthropologists, historians, political scientists, artists, and writers come together to share their knowledge, debate and question the way in which the world functions, addressing a large public while never straying from academic rigour and quality.

Friday 26 to Synday 28 February, free admission

Un Week-End singulier For the fifth consecutive year, le lieu unique is inviting nearly twenty unruly artists and their improbable propositions for a long weekend. In a society celebrating normalcy and lukewarm tastes, this digression pays homage to stargazers and mavericks from all four corners of the world.

Wednesday 13 to Sunday 17 April 2016