Extreme Tension
The portrait of a body
‘Scalp, the forehead, the ears… the base of the skull… the legs, thighs, ankles... the stomach… the throat... the breathing, the palpitations... etc.’ In Extreme Tension, the French-American visual artist Louise Bourgeois describes her body in eleven powerful drawings with text. She was 96 when she completed the work in 2007.
The series provides the content, structure and title for a solo created by the Brussels-Canadian choreographer Ula Sickle with and for the dancer Marie De Corte. Sound artist Yann Leguay creates a new sound score that zooms into the body, under the skin, rendering it both seductively close and strangely unfamiliar. This play between distance and proximity is central to the work of Louise Bourgeois, who during her long career never ceased to show, without reservation and with much force, the psychological and physical intimacy of the human body. Extreme Tension is not a portrait of Marie or Louise, but rather the portrait of a body, exposed as an unknown landscape, both powerful and fragile.
• Ula Sickle previously worked with Yann Leguay on Solid Gold and Jolie, which were presented in the Kaaistudio’s in 2011. In these solos we saw two young Congolese performers who brought their own culture and world of movement with them. Similarly, Marie De Corte will draw on her own dance history (in work by Marc Vanrunxt, Ugo Dehaes and many others), but also on her own ‘daily’ postures and movements.
concept Ula Sickle | creation & performance Marie De Corte | sound creation & live performance Yann Leguay | movement coach Tamara Milla Vigo | scenography & costume design Marie Szersnovicz | light design Ula Sickle, assistance Peter Fol (Kaaitheater) | dramaturgy Marianne Van Kerkhoven (Kaaitheater) | graphic design Pierre Lecrenier - La petite usine | production Caravan Production (Brussels) | co-production Kaaitheater | residencies Kaaitheater, wp Zimmer (Antwerp), TAKT Dommelhof (Neerpelt) | with the support of the Flemish authorities, the Canada Council for the Arts | based on
the series EXTREME TENSION by Louise Bourgeois (2007). Etching and
mixed media on paper - 11 panels of varied dimensions. Collection Centre
Georges Pompidou. Reproduction rights granted by © Louise Bourgeois
Trust/VAGA, New York/SABAM, Brussels 2012. Photos: Ben Shiff
Image:
Louise Bourgeois
EXTREME TENSION, 2007
Collection Centre Georges Pompidou
Photo: Ben Shiff, © Louise Bourgeois Trust/VAGA, New York/SABAM, Brussels
