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1. AUTONOMOUS SCENOGRAPHY is a project based on the fascination of visual artist MERYEM BAYRAM for pop-up books. She developed a series of pure basic forms made of sheet cardboard which can be unfolded from an apparently empty flat surface to a whole repertory of evocative scenic elements.

Autonomous Scenography is in full creation now with different residencies. Première 15 Nov 2014, Stuk, Leuven.

Concept & objects Meryem Bayram With Gaëtan Bulourde & Clément Layes Sound design Charo Calvo Light installation Pol Matthé Outside eye David Bergé

An impression by Carolina Maciel de França:

CENTRE TO VERTEX // connecting vertices

Meryem Bayram came in wearing the exact same colours as I, in perfect opposites. I wore blue on black, she wore black on blue. The other thing we shared was the presumption that this text had every ingredient to fail. See, I had never seen this work before, and she felt she’d lack the words to give me a good description. So she brought a video and I brought my interview modus. Probably thinking she could show what she couldn’t tell, whereas I had the opposite in mind: talk to me until I think I have an image. Tell, but don’t show.

      1.STRAIGHT LINES AND POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS
In Autonomous Scenography Meryem works with a series of foldable cardboard squares (size). First the squares are cut out in two diagonal lines that connect the vertices. (picture) Then, the uncut sides of the square are moulded, allowing the square to be manipulated into a wide variety of geometrical forms. Like a pop-up book without the frames of the separate pages…
      2. BIRD, MEET CAGE
Performers Clément Layes and Gaëtan Bulourde were then invited to experiment with the pop up cardboard, both given time and space to create their own interpretations to the same object. Cardboard as a toy. As a minimalistic landscape. A bird, a table, a man under a windshield. Cléments structured, rhythmic, repetitious and (precise) movements contrasted well with Gaëtans rebellious, adventurous way of discovering the object by touching, moving and bending it. The very study of how the two performers spontaneously handle the same material led her to believe she wasn’t really directing, or that this method didn’t really require much of a director. I disagree, here’s why:
      3. DIRECTOR’S CUT
The fact that Meryem’s working method is based on observation doesn’t necessarily exclude the need for a director’s guidance. The fact that she doesn’t impose a choreography on her performers, doesn’t mean that there is none. Meryem chose to observe what would spontaneously stem out of their experiment, but she also made choices as to how far she would let them go. Clément and Gaëtan are never free without boundaries. Like a scientist patiently observing her study objects, she found her method in adding value to the material’s possibilities by not taming the performers’ different qualities, but also not giving them absolute freedom.

To be continued...

BUDAVISTA #5 EXRA MUROS /Kortrijk@Lille: work in progress 12/10/14
http://www.0090.be/workspace/home

2. EUROPEAN MIDDLE WEST ARTS PROJECT

EMWAP - short for Europan Middle West Arts project is driven by artists’ demand for more contact and exchanges and by the urgent need for an active support of the creative processes, wants to connect and facilitate encounters between artists and partners, resulting in artistic dialogues reflecting on the concept of the Middle West, a hybrid space between East and West.

The next partnermeeting will take place in Rotterdam on 14 th September 2014.

EMWAP Festival, Istanbul, Turkey 23/03/2015 until 03/04/2015
emwap.eu

Is a major international arts festival held every two years to celebrate one invited country’s cultural heritage. Since 1969, Europalia has organised some twenty-two festivals. Each has turned the spotlight on one culture in a comprehensive programme of music, fine arts, photography, cinema, theatre, dance, literature, architecture, design, fashion, gastronomy...

The next edition in 2015 will focus on Turkey. Mesut Arslan, artistic leader of Platform 0090 was asked to co-curate the dance, theater and performance programme.

5. B I R I K E N

b i r i k e n was formed by Okan Urun and Melis Tezkan in 2006 in Istanbul with the aim of conceiving stage performances, installations and videos.

Platform 0090 invited Okan and Melis for firts talks on their upcoming projects with the aim to follow the development of b i r i k e n on the long run and provide residencies and working opportunities.