Holland Festival: Jérôme Bel

Maria Magdalena Kozłowska / Pankaj Tiwari in coproductie Frascati Producties en Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Tue 13 Jun ’23 and Wed 14 Jun ’23
Sustainable Theatre: Jérôme Bel’s ‘auto-bio-choreo-graphy’ adapted by two local artists.
Tue 13 Jun ’23
and
Wed 14 Jun ’23

Jérôme Bel wrote an ‘auto-bio-choreo-graphy’ about his work as a choreographer and his involvement with the world around him. As he no longer travels himself because of climate concerns, his story will be told and adapted in Amsterdam by local artists Maria Magdalena Kozłowska and Pankaj Tiwari.

Sustainable Theatre

In 2019, choreographer Jérôme Bel decided that his company (in particular) would no longer travel by plane because of ecological concerns. In order to be able to keep presenting his work in other countries, he created the concept of ‘Sustainable Theatre’ together with theatre director Katie Mitchell: only the text and a set of rules for the performance tour; the piece is performed in a sustainable way by a local cast and crew in each country.

For the Holland Festival, the Netherlands-based makers Maria Magdalena Kozłowska and Pankaj Tiwari will realise this exciting concept in a smart and original way. Using video displays, they will tell the story in which Bel connects his earlier choreographies with his encounters, decisions, doubts and involvement. They will also draw on their own experiences as makers and connect these with those of Jérôme Bel.

Jérôme Bel

The artistic research of Bel’s thirty-year career addresses fundamental questions about vulnerability, otherness, power relations, marginalisation, justice, equality, liberation from consumerism, capitalism and the showbiz society. Aged 33, Bel answered a journalist who asked why he made his work: ‘To save the world.’

Jérôme Bel is the second Sustainable Theatre production of the Holland Festival in collaboration with Frascati Productions. The first production was A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction from Katie Mitchel in 2022.

Programme book

  • Premier 13 June 20:30
  • Run time: 130 min
  • Warning: This production includes flashing lights and lasers
  • Language: English with Dutch surtitles
  • Podiumpas not valid at Holland Festival

Credits

text Jérôme Bel video Jérôme Bel direction and performance Maria Magdalena Kozłowska, Pankaj Tiwari light art Nick Verstand dramaturgy Miguel Angel Melgares production Holland Festival, Frascati Producties

performers video Frederic Seguette, Claire Haenni, Gisèle Pelozuelo, Yseult Roch, Olga de Soto, Peter Vandenbempt, Sonja Augart, Simone Verde, Esther Snelder, Nicole Beutler, Eva Meyer Keller, Germana Civera, Benoît Izard, Ion Munduate, Cuqui Jerez, Juan Dominguez, Carine Charaire, Hester Van Hasselt, Dina Ed Dik, Amaia Urra, Carlos Pez, Henrique Neves, Johannes Sundrup, Véronique Doisneau, Damian Bright, Matthias Brücker, Remo Beuggert, Julia Häusermann, Tiziana Pagliaro, Miranda Hossle, Peter Keller, Gianni Blumer, Matthias Grandjean, Sara Hess, Lorraine Meier, Simone Truong, Akira Lee, Aldo Lee, Houda Daoudi, Cédric Andrieux, Chiara Gallerani, Taous Abbas, Stéphanie Gomes, Marie-Yolette Jura, Nicolas Garsault, Vassia Chavaroche, Magali Saby, Ryo Bel, Sheila Atala, Diola Djiba, Michèle Bargues, La Bourette, Catherine Gallant production Holland Festival, Frascati Producties

coproduction Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, R.B. Jérôme Bel (Parijs) STAGES - Sustainable Theatre Alliance for a Green Environmental Shift: Dramaten Stockholm, National Theater & Concert Hall, Taipei, NTGent, Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, Théâtre de Liège, Lithuanian National Drama Theatre, National Theatre of Croatia Zagreb, Slovene National Theatre Maribor, Trafo, MC93 — maison de la culture de Seine-Saint-Denis Bobigny thanks to Caroline Barneaud, Daphné Biiga Nwanak, Jolente De Keersmaeker, Zoé De Sousa, Florian Gaité, Chiara Gallerani, Danielle Lainé, Xavier Le Roy, Marie-José Malis, Frederic Seguette, Christophe Wavelet with support of Europese Unie

About the makers

In her work, director, singer, and performer Maria Magdalena Kozłowska (PL/NL) explores the connecting and revolutionary potential of the human voice. With classical singing, music, video, visual art, and live performance, she creates performances and interventions that bridge the gap between individual and society, tradition and transition, past, present, and future. Since 2021, she maker performances wit Frascati Producties, amog which COMMUNE (2021) and Dead Skin (2022). 

Pankaj Tiwari (IND/NL), is an artist and curator from Balrampur India, currently based  in Amsterdam. Between 2020-23, worked as co-curator with Zurich Gessnerallee, Switzerland. His work aims to connect people and stimulate exchange of knowledge. Together with Maria Magdalena Kozłowska he created Opera to the People (2021), a floating performance in the canals of Amsterdam.