This spring, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg will give enthusiastic readers an opportunity to discover and explore the diversity of Luxembourg’s literary and book publishing scene with booths at both the Brussels Book Fair and Leipzig Book Fair.
This will be Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg’s first time exhibiting at the Luxembourg booth at these two major events.
Four Luxembourg publishers – Capybarabooks, Hydre Edition, Kiwi E.L.G. and PassaParola Editions – have opted to take advantage of this opportunity to exhibit their latest French-language releases in literature, non-fiction and children’s books at the Brussels Book Fair (30 March to 2 April 2023 on the booth “Livres du Luxembourg” – n°209).
And at the Leipzig Book Fair, the second largest in Germany, which this year will be held from 27 to 30 April, six Luxembourg publishers – Black Fountain Press, Capybarabooks, Editions Guy Binsfeld, Hydre Editions, Kremart Editions, Point Nemo Publishing – will present their new spring releases.
Not only are these fairs critically important for helping boost the profile of Luxembourg works and authors – through the organisation of readings and the presentation of authors attending the events — but they are also a platform where professionals can meet up and discuss and debate issues, while serving as the perfect venue for the general public to discover Luxembourg authors and find out just how diverse the Luxembourg book sector actually is.
- At the Brussels book fair, there will be a reading and discussion on Transgressions and feminist perspectives with Tullio Forgiarini and Nathalie Ronvaux on Sunday, 2 April at 10:00 a.m.;
- At the Leipzig Book Fair, Maxime Weber, Claire Schmartz, Samuel Hamen, Nico Helminger (heteronym: Tomas Bjørnstad) will engage in readings, discussions and a debate on What if…? Between fiction and speculation.
To promote the publishers and authors present at these fairs to a wider readership at home with the bookstagram phenomenon, Kultur | lx has developed a new video format that will be released on 15 March on Instagram only.
There is a lot of literary news this spring, with the nomination of Jeff Schinker for the European Prize for Literature, but also with the prospects of exchanges after a field trip at the Bologna Book Fair and during our national participation at the upcoming Brussels Book Fair.
Field trip at the Children Bologna Book Fair
Kultur | lx organised a field trip to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair from 6th until 8th of March with two Luxembourgish publishing houses specialised in children’s and young adult literature, Kremart Edition and Editions Guy Binsfeld.
The field trip allowed the editors to broaden their network and strengthen already existing ties made through various book projects, thus evaluating the interest of a potential presence of their publishing house in the coming years at this major event. The editors also took advantage of the BCBF to discover the newest trends and perspectives in children’s and young adults literature as well as the different exhibitions of illustrators. Overall, the visit at the BCBF has given the participating editors new ideas and perspectives for interesting new publishing projects.
“It was important for Editions Guy Binsfeld to further develop relationships with other publishers and service providers, to buy licences and sell them in parallel. The next few weeks will show whether and to what extent we have succeeded in this. At the same time, we have deepened already existing relationships with publishers, authors and illustrators and can look forward to joint projects in the future. The sea of outstanding illustrations and concepts as well as the abundance of ideas and nice people ensured that we returned with new books, good contacts to international experts and, above all, a lot of inspiration”, explains Marie Mathieu
Jeff Schinker – Nominee for the European Union Prize for Literature 2023
At the Bologna Book Fair, the nominees for the European Union Prize for Literature 2023 were revealed. Among the 13 authors from 14 countries on the shortlist is Jeff Schinker’s My Life in the Tents.
The nominating organisation for Luxembourg composed by Anne Diderich (Fédération luxembourgeoise des Libraires), Jeanne Glesener (University of Luxembourg), Nathalie Jacoby (Centre national de littérature), Béatrice Kneip (journalist) and Florent Toniello (A:LL Schrëftsteller*innen), has selected Ma vie sous les tentes by Jeff Schinker for its unflinchingly honest look at a way of life in which the fear of mediocrity and solitude drives every move and every sentence in search for connections that transcend the seemingly unremarkable and for its insightful exploration of the sociology of festival life.
The winner of the EUPL 2023 and the five special mentions will be announced on 28 April at a ceremony at the Leipzig Book Fair (where Kultur | lx will be present for the first time with six publishers on a national stand).
First national presence at the Brussels Book Fair
This will be Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg’s first time exhibiting at the Luxembourg booth at this major event.
Four Luxembourg publishers – Capybarabooks, Hydre Editions, Kiwi E.L.G. and PassaParola Editions – have opted to take advantage of this opportunity to exhibit their latest French-language releases in literature, non-fiction and children’s books at the Brussels Book Fair (30 March to 2 April 2023).
In addition to the stand where Antoine Pohu will sign his new novel Parfois la nuit se tait (Capybarabooks, 2023) on Saturday 1st April from 02:00p.m. to 03p.m., on Sunday 2 April at 10.00 a.m., a meeting and reading will be organised around the theme: ‘Transgressions et perspectives féministes’ with Tullio Forgiarini and Nathalie Ronvaux.
Kultur | lx invites you to discover authors and publishers on Instagram from Wednesday 15 March before meeting them at stand no. 209 at the Brussels Book Fair.
Committed to promote artists from Luxembourg, Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg will be present for the second consecutive year at jazzahead! in Bremen, Germany.
This presence will be made possible through a booth which will give all the professionals involved in the Luxembourg jazz scene the opportunity to meet the foreign delegations attending this key trade fair for the jazz sector.
In 2022, jazzahead! gathered 2700 participants from 55 different countries. A central platform for the jazz sector, taking place every year in Bremen, the event gives rise to formal and informal networking, as well as showcases and conferences. In 2022, first year during which Luxembourg presented a national booth at jazzahead, 14 people from Luxembourg’s jazz scene (artists, bookers and managers, promoters) came to Bremen and had the chance to meet all the professionals attending the event.
In order to give artists and independent professionals the opportunity to attend the event and expand their network, Kultur | lx provides financial support.
We are looking forward to meeting you at the booth nr. 6B31! – more information to follow.
Luxembourg has been a regular participant at the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia for the past 20 years, along with around 70 other countries. Since its launch in 1980, this event has been the main international meeting place for specialists in architecture, a discipline whose major contemporary trends it helps to showcase and define. As well as raising the profile of those involved, Luxembourg’s attendance allows it to contribute to international exchanges and debates on architecture, whose theoretical foundations and fields of application are constantly expanding.
In 2022, Luxembourg’s Ministry of Culture delegated curatorship of the Luxembourg Pavilion (architecture and art) to Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg, in collaboration with luca – Luxembourg Center for Architecture.
The winning team is made up of two curators, Francelle Cane and Marija Marić, surrounded by an Advisory Board and a team of contributors in the fields of scenography, content production and publishing.
About Down to Earth
From the development of human settlements on the Moon to the asteroid mining of rare mineral and metals—the wild imaginaries of extraction-driven growth have, quite literally, transcended the boundaries of the Earth. This displacement of resource exploitation from the exhausted Earth to its ‘invisible’ backstages—celestial bodies, planets, and ultimately, the Moon itself—calls for an urgent debate on the impact this shift will have on our understanding of land, resources and the commons. critically unpacks the project of space mining through the perspective of resources. It starts from the following questions: How does tDown to Earthhis new iteration of the space race, wrapped in the false promises of endlessly available resources, depart from the existing extractivist logic of capitalism and its destructive environmental and social effects on the ground? How will the ongoing privatisation of space, characterised by a sharp turn towards private companies as main actors in the exploitation of space resources, affect the current status of extraterrestrial bodies as a form of ‘planetary commons’? What are the materialities of space mining—its logistics, technologies, infrastructures and workers—and their relationship to the existing geopolitical power hierarchies? And finally, how are architects to mediate critically the ramifications of these material fictions, rooted in the existing paradigms of growth?
Designed as mock-ups of the Moon’s landscapes, ‘lunar laboratories’ have emerged in recent years as a default feature that many institutions and private companies around the world use as infrastructure for testing different mining technologies. However, within the context of speculative economies of the space mining industry, the role of the lunar laboratories seems to go beyond being merely spaces meant for carrying out scientific experiments, instead appearing also as media studios for the production of imagery of human technologies on the Moon. The exhibition Down to Earth uses the lunar laboratory as a site for unpacking the tech industry’s space exploration narratives. With the space of the Pavilion itself turned into a lunar laboratory, a stage where the performance of extraction takes place, Down to Earth focuses on the unveiling of the backstages of the space mining project, offering another way of seeing the Moon that goes beyond the current optics of the Anthropocene.
The 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia will take place from May 20 to November 26. The Luxembourg Pavilion is located at Arsenale (Sale d’Armi, 1st floor).
More information: www.venicebiennale.kulturlx.lu/en/
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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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Following a call for applications for the research and creation residency for architects, architecture researchers, illustrators, and authors at the Academia Belgica in Rome in 2023, 6 proposals were assessed. At a meeting on 24 January, the jury welcomed the range, focus and quality of the projects submitted. The jury members were Eline Bleser (Luxembourg Center for Architecture), Claude Kremer (National Centre for Literature) and Anne Simon (Resident 2022).
The jury unanimously decided to award the residency to Nathalie Kerschen for her research proposal URBS ANIMALIS.
Jury Statement
The jury was particularly impressed by the theme Natalie Kerschen proposed, a natural extension of her PhD research. The precision and methodology underpinning her thinking, combined with the almost intuitive approach she plans to take in the field, were rated highly by the jury which commended her for the exemplary nature of her academic approach.
The topic proposed by Nathalie Kerschen dovetails perfectly with current debates – still in the early stages – questioning current thinking about cities from the perspective of inclusive coexistence living beings in urban spaces. It is therefore highly relevant to current research in the field of architecture and the way in which we inhabit nature.
Project (extract from application)
“Drawing inspiration from the hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to architecture and recent developments in eco-phenomenology—i.e. the philosophical attempt to an ‘experience of nature’ through ‘nature of experience’ (Toadvine)—and studies of animals and anthropology, my research creation projects—which lie at the intersection between architecture and speculative design—aim to renew the relationship with animals in Rome through the prism of what the phenomenologist David Abram calls ‘becoming animal’.
This proto-eco-phenomenological approach is based on the idea that human bodies are in harmony with non-human bodies on the basis of a combination of physical experiences and conditions. It can be linked to the concepts of ‘interanimality’, and ’empathy’ (Einfülung) developed by the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty; a bodily experience shared by humans and animals. Since (eco)phenomenology focuses on the experience of animals, it offers a backdrop for examining the conditions and spatial contexts of non-human living beings from a familiar perspective, i.e. as co-inhabitants of our urban and rural spaces. At a time when exponential growth of urban populations, the extinction of species, and the loss of biodiversity seem irreversible, making animals visible in Rome means giving them a platform and bringing them back into focus for architects.”
About Nathalie Kerschen
After obtaining a master’s from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais and studying philosophy at Paris Sorbonne IV University, Nathalie Kerschen continued her academic studies at McGill University in Montreal. In November 2022, she defended her doctorate in the History and Theory Department at the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture on ‘Reclaiming Nature in Computational Architectural Design: From Biology to Phenomenology’. In addition to her academic studies, Nathalie has worked for international architect’s offices and been exhibited in contemporary art centres, including Casino – Forum d’art Contemporain in Luxembourg and iMal Art Center for Digital Cultures & Technology in Brussels. In 2022, she began to teach theory and practical courses in the Department of Design and Computation Arts at Concordia University in Montreal.
As a researcher, Nathalie has received several grants, including an AFR grant from the Luxembourg National Research Fund (2016-2020), a Schulich grant (2016), a Meita grant from McGill University (2016-2019), excellence grants for architecture graduates (2021) and an award on completing her doctorate (2022) from the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture.
Kultur | lx continues its “carte blanche” series in 2023, giving artists the opportunity to reinterpret the values and visual identity of Kultur | lx. After a year in which illustration dominated our homepage with works by Dirk Kesseler, Irina Moons and Keong-A Song, Kultur | lx is initiating a series around video, starting with an artwork by the Luxembourg artist and director Suzan Noesen.
“I wanted to make a video with a gestural metaphor for the activities surrounding culture and art – whether it is making, mediating, preserving, consuming, it is all about trying to grasp an essence which is contained in a form but which is never truly tangible. So the existence, value and pleasure of art and culture – aesthetics – might consist mostly in sustaining the practices, the attempts, the imperfect fumbling for something that lies behind the senses. In maintaining the practice of art and culture through different times, realities, technologies.The title is an excerpt from the dialogue of my recent work OBSOLETE TERRAIN, about an apple tree with its large symbolics of conscience, genesis – the beginning of sedentary culture – or the self-destruction of the tree through its bred hyper-productivity.“, comments the artist.
Discover the artwork on the home page of our website and our social media pages. (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram)
Following Kultur | lx’s change of status to a public institution and after 18 months of processing applications for support and discussions with applicants, we have made a few changes to both the titles of the grants as well as to how certain costs are covered. Support schemes are evolving, no supports will disappear.
These include :
- Support for Participation in Fairs becomes Support for exhibitors attending trade fairs and trade shows;
- Tour Support becomes Support for touring and dissemination of work;
- Support for mobility, research and career development becomes Support for prospecting, research and career development
- Publishing support and translation grant have three submission dates per year.
A major change is that the different deadlines for each type of support have been removed and replaced by a monthly deadline for submitting applications. Please note that there will remain certain deadlines to be met according to the processing time required for the application.
Principles :
The deadlines for submission of projects for the year 2023 are set as follows:
- 19 March 2023
- 23 April 2023
- 21 May 2023
- 25 June 2023
- 23 July 2023
- 27 August 2023
- 01 October 2023
- 29 October 2023
- 03 December 2023
The internal and selection committees have a period of three weeks to decide on the application from the deadline for submission (see deadlines above). The submitted project may not start before the end of the deadline for response.
Example :
Submission on 19 March. Response by 9 April. Project cannot start before 10 April.
Submission on 23 April. Response by 14 May. Project cannot start before 15 May.
Please note:
An application submitted between 20 March (i.e. after the 19 March deadline) and 23 April will be processed with the 23 April submission, so the project cannot start before 15 May, as in the above example.
We remain at your disposal to provide assistance!
Do you have any questions regarding these changes?
Register for one of our two Q&A sessions on Tuesday 7 February 2023 at 12:00 (in French) and 13:00 (in English) via Zoom.
Register here:
Registration – |lx Q&A session 12 PM CET (in french)
Registration – |lx Q&A session 1PM CET (in english)
12Also in 2022, classical music and jazz from Luxembourg made its way into the international press. Here are some impressions.
Maxime Bender Universal Sky, Fall & Rise, CamJazz
“At a time where self-written compositions are more a norm than a exception, the pieces distinguish themselves by their ability to not place the writing process at the forefront, but rather to convey a strong and accessible musical message. “Universal Sky” weaves an interlacing of sound colors going from intangible and air echoes with pure energy and jerky rythms, creating a perfect contrast between the four instruments. Maxime Bender turns out to be a goldmine of inspiration, sound and idea” – Fränkische Zeitung
“(…) so many references-reverences that only strengthen this dreamy odyssea, simoultaneously melancolic and solar”– Jazz Magazine
Zala & Val Kravos, Piano Duet, Ars Productions
“a beautiful and lively CD, full of vitality” – Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier, En pistes!, France Musique
“A brother and a sister, both pianists, present Piano Duet, a great record. Mozart and Schubert hold the most prominent position, but you can also discover Françoise Choveaux’s Fantaisies. These two rascals deserve an attentive ear!” – Frédérick Casadesus, Le Club de Mediapart
“With the duo Zala and Val Kravos, a double star has emerged that will continue to shine for a long time to come. This young duo has great potential, as their debut CD proves.” – klassiekcentral.be
Francesco Tristano, on early music, Sony
“For the most part of the album, the percussive is very much in the foreground, the groove and the rhythmic component that Francesco Tristano particularly appreciates in early music.”– Rainer Baumgärtner , rbbkultur
“The Juillard School-trained pianist presents the early music solidly: in the nimble fugue-like movements (Prélude from Bach’s English Suite No. 2 in A minor), the voices mesh like the cogs in clockwork.” – Thorsten Preuβ, BR Klassik
Sascha Ley, In Between, Jazzhaus Musik
“[Sascha Ley] creates a world with its own parameters, based primarily on reduction and pure accuracy of expression. “In Between” : One indeed lands in an in-between realm. It is an exciting place.” – Susanne Müller, Jazz Podium
“With her musical concept, Sascha Ley seems to me to be a personality who stands somewhat apart from the so-called jazz scene and is very interesting not only for that reason.” – Jazzfun.de
Pascal Schumacher, LUNA, Neue Meister
“Luna” is even more contemplative and tender, also because Schumacher used softer mallets than usual. The Luxembourger layers with great sensitivity vibraphone, synth surfaces and reduced beats, sometimes reminiscent of ambient pioneers such as Cluster” – Jan Paersch, JazzThing
Sabine Weyer & Dimitri Maslennikov, Brahms Connection, Quartz
“One of the very best albums for cello and piano that I’ve ever heard in four decades as a reviewer.” – Phil’s Classical Reviews
“Overall, despite many individual differences in detail, Dimitri Maslennikov and Sabine Weyer convincingly establish a common viewing height between these deeply romantic masterpieces” – Stefan Pieper, Orchester Graben
Gilles Grethen, State of mind, Double Moon
“An album filled with lyrical images, with beautiful and clear guitar and trumpet solos.” – Jazzfun.de
Albena Petrovic, Dreamlover
“There are beautiful things in this score by Albena Petrovic” – En Pistes contemporain!, France Musique
Petit frère, a play written and produced by Laure Roldàn and Gaëtan Vassart, was selected by an independent jury of renowned experts from the Luxembourg and French theatre scene to represent French-language theatre from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg at the 2023 Avignon Festival OFF. With financial support from the Ministry of Culture and Kultur | lx, the play will be staged at the Caserne des pompiers, the venue for events from the Grand Est Region under an agreement with the Luxembourg Ministry of Culture. Performances shall run from 7 – 29 July 2023.
The jury included Serge Basso de March (author and poet), Pablo Chimienti (communication and PR director at THEATER FEDERATIOUN), Godefroy Gordet (journalist, author, director and president of Le Gueuloir, a cross-border collective of playwrights), Lee Fou Messica (artistic director of the Espace Bernard-Marie Koltès – an official national theatre in Metz and co-president of the Quint’Est network) and Ian De Toffoli (author and director selected by Luxembourg for the 2022 Avignon Festival OFF).
Laure Roldàn’s submission met the jury’s criteria in terms of artistic quality, adaptation to the constraints in Avignon, and the potential for distribution. The jury commented on the sensitivity of the performance and the excellent cabaret-theatre format, combining the dramatic with the narrative and exploring both history and biography. In addition to being a tribute to Charles Aznavour and a touching account of his life, Petit Frère is also a timely reflection on brotherly love, artistic creativity, a bohemian lifestyle, migration and integration.
Produced by Laure Roldàn’s company, La Compagnie Juana La Loca and Gaëtan Vassart’s company, Cie La ronde de nuit, as a co-production with the Bombyx collective, supported by Luxembourg City Theatres through the Capucins Libre residency to complete the project, Petit frère is an adaptation of a book with the same title by Charles Aznavour’s sister, Aïda Aznavour-Gavarentz. In her book, Aïda described the peregrinations of the Aznavourians, a family saga spanning the great history of the 20th Century with Charles as the main protagonist. Laure Roldàn and Gaëtan Vassart have made the text their own and brilliantly brought its themes to the stage: the Armenian genocide; the exile of the Aznavourian parents; poverty in Paris; Nazi occupation; and Charles’ key relationship with Edith Piaf before he conquered the music halls. Highlighting this unique story, the play looks back at a history of integration though language and by dint of talent and desire. If Charles Aznavour’s fate seems universal, it’s because it is the song of exile.
About La Compagnie Juana La Loca
La Compagnie Juana La Loca is a theatre company based in Luxembourg that creates and produces live theatre performing art. Founded in 2018 by Laure Roldàn, it explores the themes of exile and cultural appropriation through language. More specifically, the company adapts texts and material that were not initially written for theatre and is particularly interested in urban spaces and interactive productions. Petit frère – la grande histoire Aznavour (Little Brother – The Great Story of Aznavour) is the company’s first production. It was followed by Les bancs publics, un intinéraire urbain inventé (Public Benches, An Imaginary Urban Walk), a musical and poetry performance offering an intimate historical and musical portrait of the city of Luxembourg during a guided walk. The next production, Les murs parlent (Walls Talk) which explores urban graffiti, marks and scars, will be a co-production between Hammana Artists House (Lebanon), St Ouen sur scene (France) and KulturFabrik (Luxembourg), supported by the Commission Internationale du Théâtre Francophone and Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg.
About Laure Roldàn
A French, Spanish and Luxembourg national, Laure Roldàn studied at the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique in Paris. She has acted under various directors, including Muriel Mayette, Hélène Vincent, Arthur Nauzyciel, Christian Benedetti, Silviu Purcarete, Vincent Goethals, Carole Lorang, Laura Schroeder, Laurent Contamin, Matthew Lenton, Myriam Muller, Pascale Noé-Adam, Laurent Guttman, Fabio Godinho, Yann Colette, Jean Boillot and Frederic Maragnani. She has also acted for cinema for directors Jean-Michel Ribes, Jean-Paul Civeyrac, Artus de Penguern, Pascal Bonitzer, and Catherine Castel. In 2011, she directed Voilà donc le Monde !, based on Lost Illusions by Balzac, at Théâtre 13. She staged Dolce inferno, an adaptation inspired by Fellini’s Dolce Vita at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg as part of TalentLAB and assisted Yves Beaunesne on Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo. She also assisted Calixto Bieito at the Repertory Theatre in Birmingham for the performance of The String Quartet’s Guide To Sex And Anxiety. She collaborated with Gaëtan Vassart on Anna Karenine – les bals où je m’amuse n’existent plus pour moi at the Théâtre de la Tempête with Golshifteh Farahni in the lead role. During a Capucins Libre residency, Roldàn created Petit frère, la grande histoire Aznavour, an adaptation of the book by Aïda Aznavour-Gavarentz. The play will go on tour to France and Armenia. She co-directed La rue des fleurs n’existe pas with Aude-Laurence Biver and Christine Muller for TalentLAB goes city at the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg in September 2020. In spring 2021, she designed, wrote and produced Les bancs publics, an itinerant musical and poetry performance at symbolic locations across the city, in collaboration with composer Camille Rocailleux. In 2021, with Gaëtan Vassart she wrote a short film, 1 heure 30, and a feature film, Love, which is currently in production. In October 2021, she participated in the project incubator run by the Commission Internationale du Théâtre Francophone in Hammana, Lebanon, where she met artists from French-speaking countries with whom she forged strong artistic bonds.
About Gaëtan Vassart
Born in Brussels in 1978, Gaëtan Vassart is an author, director, and actor who now lives between Paris and Bastogne. He studied directing at INSAS before joining the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique in Paris in 2001. He has acted on stage under the direction of Philippe Adrien, Bernard Sobel, Eric Ruf, Gérard Desarthe, Michel Didym, Joël Jouanneau, and Laura Shroeder and performed texts by Handke, Ostrovski, Shakespeare, Valetti, Olecha, Gombrowicz. He has acted for cinema and been directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Laurent Herbiet, and Pierre Schoeller (L’Exercice de l’Etat). Gaëtan Vassart released several albums before becoming a playwright. He wrote and directed Toni M., a text that received a CNT creation grant and a residency at the Chartreuse and was presented at the Théâtre des Halles in Avignon; Peau d’Ourse, based on the Italian tale Pentamerone, at the Maison de Radio France with Anne Alvaro; and Danseuse (support from CNT) created at the Comédie de Picardie. In 2015, he adapted Anna Karénine – les bals où on s’amuse n’existent plus pour moi, the first stage adaptation in France of Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina which he directed at the Théâtre de la Tempête in 2016 with Golshifteh Farahani in the lead role. The same year, with Jean-Claude Carrière, Gaëtan Vassart wrote a stage adaptation of the novel Elle joue by Nahal Tajadod. In 2018, he directed Miss Julie by Strindberg at the Comédie de Picardie, a co-production with the Scène nationale d’ALBI. That year, he also directed Home, partie by Naghmeh Samini at the Théâtre Aftab Hall at Fajr International Festival Théâtre in Teheran in partnership with the Cultural Department of the French Embassy in Teheran. In 2019, he directed Bérénice by Jean Racine at the Manufacture des Oeillets, at the Théâtre des Quartiers d’Ivry, Centre Dramatique National du Val-de-Marne, in a co-production with the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume d’Aix- en-Provence, with Valérie Dréville in the lead role. In 2022, he adapted L’art de perdre, based on the novel by Alice Zeniter at the 11 Avignon.