Culture Phantom 67 – Mark Henley

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Date: novembre 23, 2021

Adrien Laplana, member of Alliance Creative at the end of a series of experimental improvised performances combining acting, music, and drawing, at Théâtre Forum Meyrin. The TFM was forced to cancel its season due to Covid, and in response invited artists and performers who wanted to experiment to take over its stage, offering also the technical support of the theatre’s team. It was the first time that they had played on such a large stage, and had been joined by two professional stage actors for the first time. They had just performed back to back, three 30 minute improvisations – with the only audience, the theatre’s technical staff and the photographer. 17.3.21
Photography by Mark Henley/Flux Laboratory from series ‘Culture Phantom’.

Culture Phantom

 

« Bats-toi, signe et persiste: résiste, résiste, résiste ».

Sang the lady in the long black dress to a masked audience on 19th April the day the theatres re-opened.

 

This is a record of what may already seem like ancient history, of ‘culture’ in Geneva under Covid-19 lockdown, made phantom by closed halls, vacant seats, masked streets and anxiety around the pandemic and the future.

 

It grew out of a conversation, and evolved organically, from artist to musician, to performer, to director, and back again, an ever-growing cast, kind enough to allow a camera-eye inside their world, during a complicated and stressful time.

 

The works shown here are inevitably ‘in progress’, including their false starts, and explorations, with changes of direction, of dropped songs and the sound of that half-second it takes a full orchestra to stop unexpectedly. It’s a zone we see too rarely, this process of creation, and I hope something of that creative energy is caught here. The exhibition itself reflects this process, part of an ongoing discussion, including a timeline of the process, and a projection of potential images.

 

All the photographs shown were taken between January and 13th April, the night before the Conseil fédéral unexpectedly announced the partial reopening of the theatres and cultural life. No one pictured here had any expectation that that would be so.

 

I would like to thank all the people, and institutions that allowed me access to their worlds, and to Cynthia Odier and Flux Laboratory for starting the conversation and supporting the project.

 

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