Mutant Stage
Mutant Stage from 01 Sep 2014 to 17 Jan 2018
6 years and 9 months ago
Mutant Stage is a series of choreographed short films initiated by Amélie Coster and Dimitri Chamblas, and produced by Lafayette Anticipations – Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette during the renovation of its 9 rue du Plâtre building between 2015 to 2018.
Throughout the renovation conducted by OMA and Rem Koolhaas, and until the public opening of the Fondation at the beginning of 2018, the 9 rue du Plâtre building is the object of an investigation into its own mutation. The evolving architecture is measured over the months by in situ encounters between directors and performers. Each shoot serves the
opportunity for a different encounter that sets bodies and matter into motion, breathing life into the changing building.
Thus Mutant Stage pulses both within the building and beyond, into the centre of the city. The title of the project is inspired by an expression articulated by Rem Koolhaas. The phrase encapsulates the essence of the building’s performative architecture as well as Lafayette Anticipations’ commitment to the hybridization of art and life. Each film in the series, shaped by the visual vocabulary of dance, cinema and architecture, is a singular object, existing in multiple fields at once. As such, 9 rue du Plâtre remains a space for invitation and experimentation, a building in motion.
Amélie Coster
After having worked at the Festival d’Avignon (1997-2000), at the Eden - Boris Charmatz /
Dimitri Chamblas (2000-2003), the Parc de La Villette (2003-2008) and at Vivarium Studio - Philippe Quesne (2009-2010), Amélie Coster spearheads and organises projects at the intersection of visual arts and the performing arts.
She thus collaborates with numerous artists, institutions and private partners. In 2016, Amélie Couillaud co- curated, along with Dimitri Chamblas, the 3e scène - Opéra national de Paris / Fonds Hélène et Edouard Leclerc pour la Culture exhibit, and is currently preparing an exhibit about dance with curator Emilie Girard, to be presented at the MuCEM. Amélie Couillaud is creating an artistic programme for the organization Crèches de France specifically for toddlers ages 0 - 3.
Dimitri Chamblas
Dimitri Chamblas joined the Paris Opéra school of dance at the age of ten, and then continued, studying contemporary dance at the Conservatoire National de Lyon. He danced with many choreographers such as Emmanuelle Huynh, Boris Charmatz, Le Ballet Atlantique Régine Chopinot and Mathilde Monnier. He worked with Jean-Paul Gaultier, Andy Goldsworthy, Jean le Gac and composer Heiner Goebbels.
In 1992, he co-founded EDNA with the choreographer Boris Charmatz. Together, they organise events, performances and exhibitions. Their duo À bras-le-corps has been performed in world-renowned theaters and festivals all over the world, and has just entered the Opéra national de Paris repertoire. They also choreographed Les Disparates, a solo for Boris Charmatz. In 1996, together with Mathilde Monnier, Dimitri Chamblas created the "research and writing residence", an opportunity for artists to establish personal creative spaces outside traditional production processes.
In 2011, he was also consulted by Benjamin Millepied to elaborate the Los Angeles Dance Project. In 2013, Dimitri Chamblas was nominated artistic director of the 3e Scène - Opéra national de Paris. He founded this creative digital platform by inviting artists such as Alex Prager, Glen Keane, Mathieu Amalric, Xavier Veilhan, Bret Easton Ellis, Julien Prévieux, Guillaume Forsythe, Rubber Legz, United Artists, Bertrand Bonello to conceive original artworks.
In 2016, he launched Studio Dimitri Chamblas, an umbrella organisation which includes his projects and collaborations, of which the duo with Marie-Agnès Gillot, a principal dancer, is a part. Included also his participation in Boris Charmatz’s new creation for the Volksbühne in Berlin and a project with the architect François Perrin for the Performa Biennial in New York.
In 2017, Dimitri Chamblas was named Dean of the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts in California.