Benefiting from the concurrent programming of Luxembourgish creations, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg organised a very first Focus highlighting all the performing arts in Luxembourg.
The 3-day event benefited from the support of Les Rotondes to set up a special event for young audiences, and of the TROIS C-L for a special dance event, in addition to the theatre event held at the Grand Théâtre.
54 international professionals from the sector, programmers, artists and representatives of institutions, from 17 countries, were able to discover the Luxembourg scene through a framework programme offering performances, meetings with artists and management of Luxembourg theatres and cultural centres, as well as networking with 80 professionals from the Luxembourg sector.
This first Focus on the performing arts was a unique opportunity to introduce the Luxembourg scene in all its diversity to its international peers. As a concrete space for exchange with artists and producers, a platform for the promotion of contemporary creations, but also a space for discussion of the challenges of international cooperation in the sector, the Luxembourg and foreign participants were all able to open up their artistic horizons and professional development perspectives.
While certain invitations for residencies and programming have already emerged from the discussions during the Focus, it is clear that the internationalisation of Luxembourg’s performing arts sector can be expected to benefit from this event in the 2024-2025 season.
This type of programme, specifically designed for professionals in the sector, is part of the range of tools that Kultur | lx can deploy to encourage artistic mobility, stimulate the desire for collaboration and establish cross-border partnerships.
Continuing to connect the Luxembourg performing arts sector with those of neighbouring countries, Kultur | lx organised a second field trip to Belgium, following the visit to Brussels in May 2022. This time, the meetings focused on the French-speaking area.
This meeting was organised with the aim of allowing artists, independent collectives and production companies from Luxembourg to discover their peers with the aim of nurturing cross-border collaborations.
A delegation of twelve artists and other performing arts professionals from all disciplines took advantage of this unique opportunity to meet the managements and discover the venues of the Wallonia-Brussels federation: the Théâtre and CCN of Namur, the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, the Théâtre des Martyrs, the Halles de Schaerbeek, MARS – Mons arts de la scène, Charleroi danse, the Théâtre de l’Ancre and the Théâtre de Liège.
This visit was an opportunity for some to strengthen ties forged during their studies in Belgium or through past collaborations, and for others it allowed them to open doors that were previously difficult to open. It was certainly a reminder of the geographical and cultural proximity and the many areas of exchange that exist and can be developed between Belgium and Luxembourg.
“I very much appreciated this field trip of the performing arts in Wallonia. The meeting between several cultural actors from different countries was greatly facilitated by this initiative. I also discovered more about the directors’ vision of their cultural institution, which allowed me to better understand their respective expectations. The meetings were also very enriching thanks to the sharing of experiences and the discovery of each other’s projects. This initiative is very relevant for the deployment of Luxembourg’s performing arts, thank you!” commented Paloma Georges from Bombyx, an artists’ collective, about this trip.
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The production HEAR EYES MOVE. Dances with Ligeti by Elisabeth Schilling will be presented as part of the Festival ” On (y) danse aussi l’été ! “, at the invitation of Isabelle Martin-Bridot, director of Les Hivernales – CDCN d’Avignon and with the support of Kultur | lx, the TROIS C-L – Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois and the Ministry of Culture. This programme completes the Luxembourg selection for the 2023 Avignon Festival OFF.
Created in 2020, HEAR EYES MOVE. Dances with Ligeti choreographically interpretes all 18 Etudes pour Piano by renowned composer György Ligeti, which is unprecedented to date. Devised for 5 dancers and accompanied live on piano by Cathy Krier (ECHO Rising Star), HEAR EYES MOVE. Dances with Ligeti is envisioned as a dance-concert concert-dance full of captivating multi-sensorial imagery.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Ligeti’s death in 2023, the show will resume its international broadcast, and will be performed on the Hivernales stage from Sunday 9 to Wednesday 19 July in a version adapted to the conditions of the Festival, notably with an audio recording by Cathy Krier whose piano cannot be accommodated on the Hivernales stage.
Have ever two forms of art entered a closer and more intricate relationship than music and dance? But how does music actually move? How does dance sound? And where do these sounds and movements meet, once they are liberated from their purported duty to mimic or mirror, to illustrate, to produce an atmosphere, to provide a backdrop, or even to merely coexist, in neat separation?
The Hungarian composer György Ligeti said of his virtuosic Études pour piano that in the process of composition “tactile concepts were almost as important as acoustic ones”. The movements and developments of music, in other words, are not merely a matter of hearing but of sensation, they come to be felt “as a tactile form, as a succession of muscle tensions”. Through these forms and successions, Ligeti’s pieces thus behave like “growing organisms”, and it is following this line of thought that the choreographer Elisabeth Schilling has created an unprecedented take to choreographically interpret those Etudes pour piano. Treating dance and music as contiguous forms that grow alongside and into each other, Elisabeth has produced, together with five dancers and the pianist Cathy Krier, a dance-concert and a concert-dance full of captivating multi-sensorial imagery.
Biography
Elisabeth Schilling is a dancer and choreographer. In close collaboration with an international team and across various collaborations, she develops transdisciplinary projects between movement, design, visual arts and music, making the disciplines dance among themselves and with each other.
We have thus tasked ourselves with making contemporary dance happen in established dance spaces as well as in unusual places. Accordingly, our productions tour European metropolises as well as more rural areas, black box theaters as well as museums, galleries, concert halls, historic buildings and public spaces. Dance is thus, almost in passing, rendered accessible to a new public.
At the same time, an important part of our work consists in different formats of creative learning, audience engagement and development. For each production, we develop an accompanying framing programme for various audiences, ranging from specifically devised post-performance discussions with the audience to accompanying workshops, symposia and catalogues.
Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg, in collaboration with the Cultural service at the Embassy of Luxembourg in Berlin, is offering a six-week choreographic research and production residency at the Uferstudios Berlin, on the basis of a call for applications. This residency abroad encourages choreographers to immerse themselves in the Berlin art scene and promotes networking with the local art scene, contributing to the long-term development of their professional career.
The jury, made-up by Ainhoa Achutegui (neimënster), Mathis Junet (TROIS C-L – Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois), Jérôme Konen (Kinneksbond, Centre Culturel Mamer) and Saeed Hani (choreographer and 2021 laureate)assessed the applications received and forwarded their recommendations to the Uferstudios. Following the selection process, Anne-Mareike Hess‘ application was selected by the direction of Uferstudios Berlin.
Anne-Mareike Hess
Statement of Uferstudios Berlin
Simone Willeit, director of the Uferstudios, was delighted with the quality of the applications submitted by the jury. Knowing and appreciating the work of Anne-Mareike Hess, Simone Willeit was convinced by the Luxembourg choreographer’s residency project and particularly emphasised her intention to collaborate and interact with many artists in the framework of this residency. Anne-Mareike Hess has been familiar with the work of the Uferstudios for a long time and has accompanied Luxembourg artists in residence there in recent years. There is also no doubt that research period at the Uferstudios will strengthen her anchorage in the Berlin art scene.
Biography
Anne-Mareike Hess (DE/LU) works as a choreographer and performer. Trained at the Conservatory in Luxembourg, she continued her studies at the HfMDK in Frankfurt am Main and at the HZT Inter-University Center for Dance in Berlin. As a performer, she has worked with choreographers such as William Forsythe (Human Writes), Eeva Muilu, Rosalind Goldberg (MIT and Jump with me), Ingri Fiksdal (Cosmic body) and Antje Velsinger (PERFORM!), with which she has performed in a number of prestigious venues around the world.
Anne-Mareike’s works have been shown at numerous venues and festivals throughout Europe. This includes: I believe that we are having a dialogue, Tanzwut and Synchronization in process. Warrior, her first evening-long solo (2018), has been selected by Aerowaves Twenty20. In 2021 she premiered the one-on-one telephone project Through the wire and the new solo Dreamer.
For many years Anne-Mareike worked in close collaboration with TROIS C-L – Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois (LU) and Skogen (SE). Since 2016 she is associated artist at Weld in Stockholm (SE), in 2017-2019 she has been supported by the Grand Luxe network and she became an associated artist at neimënster (LU) in 2020-2023.
2012 Anne-Mareike was awarded with the Prize for emerging artists by the “Stiftung zur Förderung junger Talente”. 2015 Anne-Mareike was awarded with the “Danzpraïs” from the Ministry of Culture in Luxembourg.
Anne-Mareike Hess about her residency : « My motivation to apply for this residency, is my deep wish to have some creative time in Berlin to, outside of any production context, further and expand my choreographic language and practice and dive into this new research around the subject of “portrait”. Uferstudios is a vibrant place where many artists work and cross and performances and festivals are happening frequently. This residency would be the opportunity for me to finally connect to some great artists and colleagues based in Berlin and invite them to the studio to join me in the studio. »
Pursuing its efforts to connect the Luxembourg performing arts sector with those of neighbouring countries, Kultur | lx organised a programme of professional meetings in France with the main actors of the Strasbourg Euroregion.
This meeting was organised with the aim of allowing artists, independent collectives and production companies from Luxembourg to discover their peers in order to foster cross-border collaborations.
A delegation of eight professionals took advantage of this unique opportunity to discover the theatres of Strasbourg and its region, even beyond the German border. Le Maillon, TAPS, Théâtre Baden Alsace, CDCN Pôle-Sud and Schiltigheim culture all opened their doors to this delegation. In addition, the Agence Culturelle Grand Est and the production and support office Artenréel#1 gave advice on how to get Luxembourg productions circulating in France and develop collaborations between the two countries.
“The visit to the performing arts sector in and around Strasbourg was very interesting because it gave us the opportunity to meet various structures that were very different in size, mission and vision. This gave us a fairly representative spectrum of venues with which we could collaborate and also an understanding of the mechanisms of production and dissemination in the territory. The directors and representatives took the time to meet with us and we had a lively and interesting discussion, which gave some of us the opportunity to talk about projects in progress that had already been sent. I also found that the eclecticism of our group, which brought together several disciplines, made it possible to open up several enriching discussions during the presentations of our work. It’s a wonderful ‘laboratory’ for encounters“, commented Sophie Langevin of the company JUNCTIO.
As the Strasbourg area has become a neighbour of Luxembourg through its integration into the Grand Est region, and as it already shares great similarities with Luxembourg, notably in its French-German bilingual dimension, these first meetings will hopefully lead to many more.
Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg headed to Montreal in early November with a large delegation of artists. At the invitation of the Film Fund Luxembourg, Kultur | lx developed a programme of events, meetings and residencies in the wake of the CINEMANIA Festival, honouring the Grand Duchy.
One of the highlights of this event was the artistic meetings organised on 3 November at the Centre PHI in the form of a networking event and a micro-festival presenting three artists and collectives from Luxembourg, a programme in the context of the Centre PHI, between experimentation and hybridisation: Andrea Mancini, C’est Karma, Compagnie Eddi van Tsui.
Professionals and the general public were thus able to discover some of the many facets of Luxembourg’s creation. The feedback was enthusiastic.
The presence in Montreal also made it possible to organise a visit to the studio of artist Suzan Noesen in residence at the Darling Foundry and to confirm once again the interest of the partnership with the Darling Foundry, which will continue in the years to come.
Beyond this highlight, Kultur | lx has worked to extend the artists’ experience by offering them other opportunities in the territory.
While artist Andrea Mancini flew to Brooklyn for a series of concerts, Eddi van Tsui, Giovanni Zazerra, Baptiste Hilbert (AWA) took advantage of their presence to network at CINARS, C’est Karma is preparing for its showcases at the M for Montreal Festival, artists Sophie Langevin and Ian de Toffoli are benefiting from a writing residency at the Centre des écritures dramatiques de Montréal. This residency was concluded with a conference on 19 November as part of the festival “La Salle des machines”.
All these moments and meetings have allowed us to forge new links with the Montreal artistic scene and to strengthen the ties with existing partners. The desire for cooperation is there, and discussions will continue in order to design sustainable programmes in a spirit of exchange and mutual benefit.
After 4 grants awarded in the fields of Visual Arts to Vera Kox, Eric Schumacher, Yann Annicchiarico and Anne-Mareike Hess for performing arts, the selection committees of Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg met in October to study the applications received for the Porfolio Grant. From the 5 applications received, the committees selected the projects of Elisabeth Schilling and Albena Petrovic.
Elisabeth Schilling, Choreographer
In 2020 the choreographer Elisabeth Schilling created the show “HEAR EYES MOVE. Dances with Ligeti“, a dialogue between dance and music. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Ligeti’s death in 2023, the show will be performed internationally again. The choreographer wanted to accompany this tour with a publication that analyses her creative work from a scientific perspective.
The book will be published in spring 2023.
Statement by the selection committee
This publication will provide an in-depth look at Elisabeth Schilling’s overall artistic approach, detailing the relationship she develops between music and dance through the expert analysis of Univ. Prof.in Dr.in habil. Stephanie Schroedter. The publication will look at the creative process of Hear Eyes Move as well as at the future of Elisabeth Schilling’s work on the perception of sound and movement.
Biography of the artist
Elisabeth Schilling creates dances beyond dance. Together with an international team and through various collaborations, she creates transdisciplinary projects between movement, design, visual arts and music, making disciplines dance with each other. In this way, contemporary dance is performed in established dance spaces as well as in unusual locations. Productions tour in European metropolises as well as in more rural areas, in underground theatres, museums, galleries, concert halls, historical buildings and public spaces. In this way, dance is made accessible to a new audience, almost as a matter of course. At the same time, an important part of her work consists of various creative learning formats. For each production she develops a programme for different audiences, ranging from specially designed discussions with the audience after the performances to accompanying workshops, symposia and catalogues.
Albena Petrovic, Composer
MY OPERA WORLD / BEYOND THE NOTES (working title) is a retrospective of the work of the composer Albena Petrovic, providing a detailed look at her creative process and the richness of her repertoire for opera.
The book will be published in autumn 2023.
Statement from the selection committee
The comprehensive dossier presented by Albena Petrovic shows great relevance to the development of her artistic career. The Selection Committee believes that this book will enable her to continue to develop her career and will be a valuable tool for highlighting her operatic works.
Biography
Bulgarian-born Albena Petrovic has a place among Luxembourg’s composers with more than six hundred works in different musical genres in her repertoire. Deciding to start playing the piano at the age of ten (too late for the Eastern European educational system), Albena was already composing at the age of eleven… (too early for the same system…). A brilliant student, she never had any obstacles and mastered the skills in all areas of music. Following the example of her grandfather, the composer Andrey Vratchansky, she decided to become a professional composer. Albena created her first public work in 1979 at the age of 14, for the International Children’s Assembly. This event was followed by numerous concerts, which were a real laboratory for creative research and a source of motivation. After completing her general and musical studies at the National School of Music “P.Pipkov”, Albena continued her studies in composition, conducting and music writing at the National Academy of Music “Pancho Vladigerev” in Sofia. She is a student of composition teachers Plamen Djouroff and Alexander Raychev. Albena holds the position of musicologist and Music Manager for the International Festival “Apollonia”, and at the National Music Agency in Sofia. Like many musicians of the Berlin Wall generation, she was forced to move abroad to pursue her profession as a pianist. Since 1996, Albena has lived and worked in Luxembourg. There she perfected her skills in contemporary composition, analysis and computer music with Mr. Claude Lenners, adopting and developing a style strongly influenced by his “Cult of Research”.
The next call will be launched in 2023.
“Music, performing arts, literature and visual arts – in addition to cinema, which is strongly represented at this year’s Cinémania festival, Luxembourg has a rich and diverse culture, which I am happy to see exported this autumn in several venues in Montreal“, highlights Sam Tanson.
Within the framework of Luxembourg, the country of honour of the CINEMANIA festival, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg invites to discover other aspects of Luxembourg’s creation between music, performance, dance and literature. Beyond the highlight at the PHI centre on November 3, Kultur | lx is expanding its programming and allowing artists to present themselves at major platforms and festivals on the Montreal scene. The establishment of a new partnership with the Centre des auteurs dramatiques de Montréal opens a three-week residency to two authors.
03.11.2022 | PHI Centre
17h : Networking Event
Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg invites professionals from the Quebec cultural scene to come and exchange ideas about Luxembourg’s creation and to share their desire for cooperation.
6pm – 9.30pm: Performances
Free registration HERE
A/V performance (duration 33′)
MINERALS | Andrea Mancini (creation 2022)
Copyright – Yves Conrady
An exploration of the fascinating world of minerals in an audiovisual and sound performance.
Concert (duration 40′)
THIS IS KARMA
Copyright – Shade Cumini
Pop, folk or electro, the musician draws from a multitude of influences to build dense, soft and yet powerful pieces.
Dance performance (duration 30′)
ART. 13 RUNWAY / EDDI VAN TSUI COMPANY
Copyright – Eddi van Tsui
In “Art. 13 Runway” the theme of migration merges with that of fashion. A hybrid form created and adapted for the PHI centre that integrates its architecture, consciously playing with the audience’s perception to move and exceed the limits of the stage.
Continuing the discovery…
04.11 | 18h | Darling Foundry, Montreal
Open Studio With Suzan Noesen
As part of her residency at the Fonderie Darling (September-November 2022), Suzan Noesen opens the doors of her studio to discuss her project and her research.
fonderiedarling.org | suzannoesen.com
07.11 – 12.11 | Luxembourg delegation at the CINARS Biennial
Every two years since 1984, CINARS has organised one of the most important international meetings of the performing arts in Montreal with more than 1900 professionals from 54 countries, including 433 of the most important presenters in the world. This year, the artists invited to the PHI Centre and the Machine Room Festival will be accompanied by Kultur | lx to meet international professionals.
cinars.org
07.11 – 28.11 | Centre des auteurs dramatiques
Author in residence: Sophie Langevin and Ian De Toffoli
Founded in 1965 by six authors, the CEAD now has over 290 members. An association of authors serving authors, CEAD is a centre for the support, promotion and dissemination of French-language drama in Quebec and Canada. It occupies a unique place in the theatrical landscape, both in terms of the number of its members and the objectives of research and excellence that it pursues. The CEAD is involved in collaborations with other countries. Luxembourg is invited for the first time to benefit from these programmes.
www.cead.qc.ca
17.11 | 4pm | Quai des Brumes + 10.45pm | Casa del Popolo
C’est Karma – M for Montreal Festival
For the past 17 years, M pour Montréal has acted as an essential catalyst for the Quebec and Canadian music industry, both for emerging artists and those developing their careers outside of Quebec. The event offers a series of conferences where local and international music industry professionals gather. For this first Luxembourg participation, the artist C’est Karma will be honoured.
mpourmontreal.com
19.11 | 5pm | Centre du théâtre d’aujourd’hui
Perspectives d’auteur-rices: l’écriture en chantier. With Sophie Langevin and Ian De Toffoli
Festival la Salle des machines
La Salle des machines is a unique event organised by the Centre des auteurs dramatiques. As part of this festival, authors offer the public dramaturgical meetings around their texts in progress. Ian De Toffoli and Sophie Langevin, in residence at CEAD, will discuss writing in progress and their respective practices.
lasalledesmachines.net
Kultur | lx would like to thank its partners for the opportunity and the realisation of this programme: the Film Fund Luxembourg, the Cinemania Festival, the Phi Centre, the Fonderie Darling, the M for Montreal Festival and the Centre des auteurs dramatiques de Montréal.
In November, let’s spread our imaginations and meet around the artists and creations of Luxembourg!
To mark the beginning of the season and of a year of support and promotion, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg invited the performing arts sector to meet and exchange ideas on 27 September 2022.
This sectoral meeting was an opportunity to present to about thirty professionals gathered at Rotondes the different support and accompaniment mechanisms offered by Kultur | lx, their evolution during this first year of existence and how they have been allocated.
At the same time, this preliminary assessment enabled the actions envisaged for the future to be outlined, while ensuring the involvement of the sector’s actors in their design and implementation.
Thus, two working groups were formed to reflect on how Kultur | lx’s mechanisms could respond to the needs of the performing arts sector and on the creation of events to promote the Luxembourg scene internationally.
It emerged that while Kultur | lx’s support mechanisms for internationalisation seem to be adapted (Support for mobility, research and career development; Tour support; Support for Participation in Fairs; Luxembourg focus programme, Promotion support), the sector’s needs involve aid and support at a national level for the development of artistic companies, the professionalisation of cultural professions (production, distribution, administration, mediation) as well as the mechanisms, between companies and artists, for the production and promotion of Luxembourg creations in international networks.
As an anticipated response to this last point, Kultur | lx has proposed to Luxembourg production managers to set up an annual programme for foreign professionals to promote the Luxembourg scene. Entitled Focus, and initiated in December 2021 with a Focus on Dance and in February 2022 with a Focus on Theatre, this programme will consist in presenting Luxembourg’s performing arts venues and creators to international guests in order to create links that could eventually lead to collaborations.
The next Focus Performing Arts will be held from 23 to 25 March 2023 and will be repeated in the autumn from 2024.
In addition to the coordination of the Luxembourg selection in Avignon taken over by Kultur | lx and the national stand “Dance from Luxembourg” at the Tanzmesse presented in cooperation with Trois C-L, Kultur | lx is committed to develop new opportunities on similar platforms such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the CINARS biennial, the Performing Arts Market Seoul and the Yokohama Performing Arts Market.
Furthermore, Kultur | lx proposes to continue exploring the territories of our neighbours with annual programmes of encounters with those who bring the performing arts to life in Germany, France, Belgium, but also in Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Finally, as part of its missions, Kultur | lx will contribute to reinforcing the professionalisation of the sector through a series of webinars and workshops.
It remains to be noted that all these projects could not exist without the important collective cooperation of all the actors of the sector at whose service Kultur | lx positions itself.
From 31 August to 3 September, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg and the TROIS C-L – Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois showcased the rich diversity of Luxembourg’s contemporary dance scene on a national booth in Düsseldorf (Germany) as part of the “internationale tanzmesse nrw 2022”.
This edition of the Tanzmesse has been a wind of change for all partners and participants All participants discovered a new space design and a programme format that allowed for discussions, listening, performances and the presentation of new projects with the aim of establishing new contacts and strengthening existing ones.
No less than 7 Luxembourg companies, made up of choreographers Catarina Barbosa and Baptiste Hilbert (AWA As We Are), Sarah Baltzinger, Jill Crovisier, Anne-Mareike Hess, Elisabeth Schilling, Simone Mousset and Léa Tirabasso, as well as their professional entourage, were able to take part in the world’s most important meeting dedicated to contemporary dance and were able to set up meetings with no less than 146 professionals from the sector.
The various meetings, both spontaneous and planned, made possible by Tanzmesse, allowed the more than 1,300 professionals present at the fair to get to know the current and future projects of Luxembourg artists. These face-to-face exchanges, which have been awaited for 4 years, due to the cancellation of the previous edition in 2020, will not have failed to nourish the prospects for the dissemination of artists and the international collaboration of Luxembourg institutions after 2 seasons marked by the pandemic.
For Elisabeth Schilling, who is attending the fair for the first time, “ the tanzmesse was an extremely important networking event, which – especially after the Corona period – allowed me to renew old contacts and establish new ones. In addition to discussions to sell productions, I found the sharing of experiences within art production in different national contexts very enriching and inspiring. It was also a great pleasure for me to visit the tanzmesse with my colleagues and, as part of the Luxembourg delegation, to be able to represent the diverse creations of our scene in an international context.”
Over the coming months, Kultur | lx and the TROIS C-L will follow up on the development of the discussions initiated at the tanzmesse by the invited companies and will propose further opportunities to meet with international stages for the promotion, visibility and dissemination of Luxembourg creation.