MAISON MAURICE BÉJART HUIS
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Michel Robert
Belgian writer, visual artist, journalist and politician.
He is the historiographer and biographer of Maurice Béjart with whom he has had a privileged relationship, a strong
friendship since 1994.
He has written several books on the choreographer. He is the co-founder and president of Maison Maurice Béjart which is a Public Utility Foundation.
Various activities take place at Maison Béjart: there are numerous exhibitions, including the permanent exhibition of the choreographer, openings and the work of the Archives. It is a place where many cultural meetings take place, where Cabaret evenings are organized which welcome artists from various fields (such as theater, dance and music). The promotion of dance and Béjart's work gave birth to a choreographic center whose functions have evolved over time and which, in 2020, is baptized Artinchor and emphasizes versatility, the dialogue between artistic forms and transdisciplinarity.
Maison Béjart created the Opinion Public companies, the Narcisse company and the Baejjahn Dance company. Currently, the Narcisse and Baejjahn companies also benefit from a residence at Maison Béjart.
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Project with TERRAROSSALAB
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Theme of immigration: La Pirogue de la Méduse ou Entre-les-deux Pandore (s’en) balance.
Two centuries have passed since Géricault's romantic painting Le Radeau de la meduse was produced. This work whose composition is meticulously thought out, where rise two pyramids which dominate the vertical axis, where the descending horizontal axis represents the motif of death, where in the foreground the dramatic reality is drawn on the raft and in the background a tiny grain of hope which feeds the cry of the survivors, is a reflection of one of the crises of our time.
For the crew aboard this raft, all human horror (the law of the strongest and cannibalism) was played for 13 days on the sea. The historical context is that of colonization, here, the aim of asserting regional dominance and acquiring territory in Senegal fails completely.
Today Géricault's painting has not lost its topicality, when we consider the tragic dimension which characterizes this sea crossing undertaken by migrants, the hope which deeply animates the being who undertakes this journey by means of transport which are not intended to withstand sea storms.
The goal is common, it is an existential rescue. The figures show that, even in precarious conditions, people most often stay in their country of origin and that it is only when a considerable pressure is added that they decide to flee. Thus immigration accounts for only 2.5% to 3.5% of the world population and most of the migrants are people active in their country, between 18 and 30 years old, and do not belong to the most social strata weak. Indeed, immigration has its price and presents many risks.
Immigration has existed since the dawn of time, several waves of immigration marked the 20th century, today, we started to speak more about it because it is a migration crisis marked by several peaks which occurred from the years 2010 as consequence of the Arab Spring, the civil war in Syria, the conflicts in Libya or the persecutions and economic crises in the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, India , Iraq, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, and Zambia.
Two main routes currently describe the arrival of migrants: Turkey - Balkans - Germany and Libya - Italy - Germany. Crossing the Mediterranean is deadly. Thus immigration is defined for some as a golden business in which local businessmen who employ smugglers participate, for others as a humanitarian drama, that is to say the number of deaths estimated at 19,164 in the last five years, either for the problems linked to the refusal of rescue at sea or for the difficult sanitary conditions in the camps. For those who succeed in reaching their country of destination and who meet the conditions, they will submit an asylum application.
By observing the living conditions and the prospects of migrants and refugees, it can be affirmed that to a successful flight from the country of origin follows a life "in the (passive) expectation of something", whether at sea (agreements between states to dock on the coasts), in temporary reception camps or finally in asylum centers.
This story which links and touches Europe, Africa, the Orient and in particular the countries of the Mediterranean basin recalls the mythical situation described by the Pandora's Box. "Waiting for something" is described as one of the worst evils.The performance offered as part of this artistic residency is a new interpretation of the Greek myth symbolizing in particular the origin of a disaster. The artists wonder about the harm described by the expectation of something for migrants, for whom life becomes synonymous with passivity which can be perceived as a form of
resignation and therefore the opposite of what life means, that is, to be active, to be an actor.
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The actor therefore gives way to the puppet. The performers in this piece replay the power relationships established between those who suffer and those who pull the strings. But other "invisible" actors, family members left behind, describe a second problem. They also live with the expectation of something, but with the difference that their expectation is directly linked to the success of the family member who fled wearing the mask of the angel chosen. While waiting for the reestablishment of family order, certainly economic but also social and psychoanalytic problems are emerging. And, in relation to the Pandora's Box and its representation of the founding agreement of the family bond, we recognize that the separation of a family member, here, due to immigration, marks a breach of past agreements, can be called treason and creates an imbalance in the family's psychic life. What did the family's Pandora's Box contain before the member's departure?
It is therefore necessary to make new agreements and restore balance, the situation requires solidity and flexibility of family ties. But what about the realities of the facts? How is what E. Granjon (2006) calls family temporality combined with the “present compound” lived? Can anxiety, disturbance in relationships and destructive effects be overcome over time? What about the tension between past and present, between two cultures and two places? How is expressed the violence that escapes from Pandora's Box once reopened ?
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