SAISON CROISEE
FRANCE - PORTUGAL
In this free-form cosmogonic and exploratory collection, Mykalle which Mykalle intertwines voices and songs, constructs and deconstructs narrative, and draws on ancient wisdoms to make us meditate on our contemporary quest for meaning and the mystery of existence. This work is the literary adaptation of the immersive opera Mythe: A poetic all female choir, immersive and bilingual show Musical creation on the humanities, heritage, the sacred, transcendence and awareness.
Through immersive environments, she seeks to engage with the public on an emotional level by offering a place and time for communion where people are free to wander and reconnect with themselves. A spiritual dimension emanates from transcendent, universal and a temporal theme that pervade her practice. It is through the sublime, this entity that is greater than ourselves, that her practice which traces new territories unfolds. A second opus of a series on the sacred, Myth, a musical odyssey for women’s choir, questions what connects us to other human generations by examining myths and common wisdom:
the art of make-believe and the fear of our own mortality. Between a recital, a concert and a ritual, the performance combines lyricism, orality and relational art into a celebration of the breath of creation and the polyphony present in origin myths, in which many voices come together and resonate in a perpetually exalted present: In an open stage recalling a tea room, a prehistoric cave, or a campfire, the choir moves around amidst the audience and reconfigures time and space according to the proximity of each voice, as it oscillates between a sense of intimacy and the feeling of standing inside a cathedral.
With a degree in theatre performance, she also collaborate as a performer and musician for various
dance and theatre productions. Her shows [Gloria, Myth, Warm up] are immersive
concerts/performances in the heart of installations where the voice and the musicality of the text reveal
an aesthetic, philosophical, spiritual, technological and political quest about the human condition. Her
practice explores collage and choral; her music is a link between liturgy and digital; her performances,
the relationship between voice, space, heart and soul, in order to connect to what matters
MYTH
Mykalle Bielinski
Alain Séraphine presents “Jeu de Dames" or "Checkers", a Virtual Reality (VR) piece. Finding its genesis in the work "identity", developed at the end of the 1970s, it is an ongoing project.
«Its conception was influenced by three elements:
First of all, that of "Le Regard d’Antigone" (the gaze of Antigone), an existing work, a personal mythology, emerged from the world of fantasy, inhabited by dreams, which has allowed me, in the quest for my Mother, to go back to "the bubble" of childhood and adolescence, which today still helps the ongoing process of self-construction...
Secondly, that of Réunion, a young island, a far-reaching shoot still emerging from the bowels of the earth. An island that, due to its history, was molded at the crossroads of cultures, and where I had the pleasure of being born.
Thirdly, that of my own career, and consequently of my artistic and political engagements, that of an "Engaged Artist".
"Jeu de Dames" is therefore a lifetime’s achievement, developed over time with fluctuating resources.
De facto, this piece poses as a quizzical witness to, or running as the common thread through my own creative path. This itinerary also remains that of a son, who attempts to understand and learn from women and possibly of the Mother figure?
The artwork was conceived like a musical score to be eternally interpreted. Its only constraint is, however, to be restricted in space.
As a result, "Jeu de Dames" takes the form of an installation of sculptural items placed on a large chessboard. The intention is to depict the life of an emerging and aspiring people through the positioning of the feminine figure.
As if suspended in the universe, the VR piece, in its reduced version, measures 15 x 15 meters and accommodates just 16 pieces.
Two sides of one of the angles of the reduced version are bordered by a tapestry in a state of levitation. This tapestry, which was created in 1976-77, woven with foal hair and carded wool originating from the land of prehistoric men of Niaux, in itself evokes the game of checkers. Indeed, it wants to be an allegory of the fight of the population against the repression generated by a system of electoral fraud institutionalized at that time on the island of Reunion.
In the cities, a bastion of union culture, women were often at the front-line of battles!
The full version is 30 x 30 meters, and accommodates up to 32 pieces. In this version, the tapestry will overflow only on one side of the board of checkers.
Unlike the game of checkers, or the game of chess, and in spite of apparent similarities, this is not a game that aims to eliminate the adversary. Neither is it a strategy game planing the opposing party’s neutralisation. Rather, it is a quest for meaning based on the changing postures of women from yesterday, today and possibly tomorrow ...
Each piece tells its own story, but as in life, by interaction with the each other and others, the pieces might continuously generate new meaning.»
Since 1975, Alain Séraphine has pursued the approach of the “involved artist”. This entails a persistent commitment to create works and institutions on his home island, the Reunion, that combine culture, social engagement and economic development. His aim and beliefs are constant: to develop creative thinking that can generate dreams, fight against all forms of exclusion, and promote a different way of living together.
His practice encompasses painting, sculpture and design projects.
The artist has also, notably, conceived the following:
-in 1991, the Reunion Graduate School of Fine Arts that obtained an equivalence to the level of European Master’s degree, validated by the AERES in 2010.
-in 1994, the Institute of Image of Indian Ocean; a Higher Education Institution for professional training in the fields of Image and New Media (2D / 3D animation cinema, video game, multimedia, audiovisual / cinema)
-in 1995, Pipangaï, a computer digital animation Studio launched with Abdéali GOULAMALY.
-in 1997, the Reunion Biennale, which welcomed young emerging talents from the “Southern economic countries”. The Reunion Island becomes a land of creation and incubation for innovative projects at the crossroads of Asian, African and European cultures.
-in 2018, he works on the creation of "L'ILIADE" (L'Institut de L'Image Afrique Asie en Digital Design - The Institute of African and Asian Image in Digital Design)
JEU DE DAMES
Alain Séraphine
CULTURAL ODYSSEYS
