jay rechsteiner

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Version Française: Click HERE

MonoloqueArt Encounters at La Maison du Comédien Maria Casarès

Art residency at La Maison du Comédien Maria Casarès, Domaine de la Vergne, 16490 Alloue - France as part of Odyssee Artist Residency programme by ACCR (l'Association des Centres Culturels de Rencontres), supported and fincanced by the French Ministry of Culture & Communication.

During a residency in May 2013, I curated a series of video monologues featuring local artists, a part of the ongoing project monoloqueArt. The project delves into exploring the individuals behind the portrayed artists, uncovering the essence of their creation, and understanding the motivations that drive their artistic pursuits. Each monologue is meticulously filmed using up to four cameras, with each camera's distinct quality representing different viewpoints, perspectives, and modes of observation. These monologue sessions serve as deeply moving encounters between the artist (subject/volunteer) and myself, capturing the significance of the project.

The project's importance lies in a simple yet profound message, emphasizing the significance of getting to know one another to foster understanding, acceptance, and love. Through personal experiences, I have developed a newfound appreciation for artworks that I previously overlooked before these encounters. I believe that such intensive interactions contribute to a deeper connection among individuals- a small but meaningful step towards a better world or, at the very least, the idea of one. While this may sound somewhat idealistic, I genuinely believe in the transformative power of these encounters.

The process of editing the footage is analogous to creating a painting or sculpture. A profound interplay between the conscious and subconscious, intellect and emotion, manifests itself in the montage of the video monologues. The artist becomes the source for artistic creation, placing the viewer in the position of the creator - the artist. The intention is to subvert the conventional 'one-way dialogue' between the artist/work and the viewer. While some monologues may seem extended for a typical audience, the focus is not on entertainment but on providing the artist with the freedom to express themselves. There is no intervention; I simply document.

Throughout the project, I've realized that I invested excessive time in the montage, which, in hindsight, overshadowed the significance of the actual encounters between the artists and me. Consequently, I've concluded that using only one sequence (camera view) would make the encounter more meaningful and reduce the personal influence reflected in the initial videos. I firmly believe that a good piece of art should minimize the ego of the creator, unless the work specifically revolves around sharing an intimate perspective.

chronological development during residence

1. exploration of art and artists
2. exploration of the person behind the artist (personal) => a deeper emotional experience
3. exploration in order ot make a real encounter (instead of four cameras maybe reducing to only one)
4. change of editing style: Reducing the way I have edited the footage so far to maybe one or split screen in order to reduce the amount of my ego within the work.
5. main focus on the actual meetings between the artists and me

more info: monolqueArt

The project is connected to previous research based projects such as the Washsroom Projects, zeiTraum and the Washroom Talks.

 

Photos

     

 

Diary & Learning

As this project has a lot to do with sharing I have decided to write a diary and make it publicly available. This is just fair.

in English

in awfully bad French

(badly written but that's fine as I am not a writer. My brother Yves is a writer)

Presentation of the project

The films were presented on the 1st of June in the two attics of La Maison du Comedien Maria Casares:

The following presentation HERE was presented on four laptops. The films were shown on stand-alone cameras, a projection, a TV-set and on mobile phones.

laboratoire monoloqueArt

 

Monoloques

Some of the footage is hardly edited and can be longer than the so-called entertainment value allows. It is my objective NOT to intervene too much. A monologue is ideally not longer than ten minutes. However, as I do not want to restrict the artists (the subjects, volunteers) I have decided to keep some of the footage hardly edited (expect for the titles). There is an element of anti-mass media entertainment that keeps us zombified as I would like to put it. It is possbile to film more than one monologue per person.

monologues I tend not to edit too much:
When the artist is working on a piece of work while holding a monologue

monologues I tend to edit:
When the artist is NOT working on a piece of work while holding a monologue

personale notes/comments:
This section contains my pesonal comments as the titles explains. I am not judging here, simply write down my impressions I had when meeting with the artists. All comments are positiv which does not mean that I am naive but that I truely have met the people. Understand leads to acceptance and in my case it also leads to a feeling of liking that person or what that person does. The comment section questions my art practice and the zeitgeist in terms of open platforms, sharing of profiles, info etc.

As this is a project with a very pesonal and intimate aspect I feel it is important for me to share my feelings as well.

Name	Practice	Country	Website
Fabrice Pressigout	landart, sclupture	France	n/a
personal comment: I met Fabrice Pressigout during my residency at la Maison du Comédien Maria Casarès in Allou. He is such a friendly and open-minded artist who has an amazing way of listening and interacting with people and nature from which he seems to get his inspiration from: He listens and then reacts. Similar to Franzueli Rechsteiner's practice Fabrice knows how to integrate his work into a given environment (nature, ideology etc.). He does what he does because he loves creating things, playing with wood, wire, objects, giving them new meaning, a new life. This is his art and this is him. He imagines the world and creates it accordingly. Fabrice is a modest man, doesn't talk too much about himself (unless he is being filmed while working on his bird's nest!). He gives you space to be, to represent yourself. He invites you over to stay with him and is eager to let you inside his life. There are so many treasures to discover in this man's life. I think people naturally like this guy, gather around him. I am very glad to have been able to film him. Update Monday, 13 May I filmed Fabrice again today but still have not managed to meet him, the person behind the artist. His monologues do not reveil a lot about himself yet, only about the work, his ideas, philosophy, general opinion of art but not about him, Fabrice. The only time I capture Fabrice behind the artist is when he thinks the monologue is over. I purposely keep the camera running a few seconds - a few seconds means the world. Update Monday, 20 May We did four monologues today in Fabrice's studio. At last I managed to capture a more personal Fabrice. He is indeed a versatile artist who uses all sorts of 'stuff' and objects to transform, merge them and create great work. I really, really like his work. He is a ninja in the art world: He makes art out of anything. His imagination is set free in his studio, a kingdom of fantasy where his inner child is free to roam about and go crazy. Lovely work.
un-edited working on a bird's nest: (10 May 2013)	monologue 2 (17 May 2013)	monologue 3 (17 May 2013)	monologue 4 (17 May 2013)
		monologue 5 (version 3) (17 May 2013) coming soon...
monologue 5 (version 1) (17 May 2013)	monologue 5 (version 2) (17 May 2013)		monologue 6 (17 May 2013)
Pascal Péroteau	musician, composer	France	myspace
personal comment: Pascal is pure poetry. Our encounter was a profoundly emotional experience. He is truely a great soul with a free spirit and honesty that makes you love mankind. He has great access to nature, animals, people. I find it difficult to describe what happened inside me. After filming five monologues with Pascal I was exhausted, physically and mentally. I needed my bed. His saxophone seems like a portal that allows him to set his soul free. It is bliss listening to him play his instrument and sing or talk works of poetry. Pascal inspired me a lot today. He managed to set something free, something inside me that I have not been able to access until now. I have always tried to be subtle in my work, releasing fine emotions but never managed. I admired artists such as for example Tarek Abu Hageb from Basel whose work is fine, subtle and touching. I believe that I have made a huge progress in my artistic development today thanks to the encounter with Pascal.
monolgue 1 (13 May 2013)	monologue 2 (13 May 2013)	monologue 3 (13 May 2013)	monologue 4 (13 May 2013)
monolgue 5 (13 May 2013)
Laurent Falguieras	performer	France	www.picapoule.org
personal comment: I wasn't sure about Laurent. I thought he was a bit of a complicated character judging from our phone conversation. When we arrived at CNAR in Niart, he was standing outside in the car park. He looked wild, long hair, toned body and an expressive face. He greeted us friendly and we started filming shortly. He was easy going. I don't think I have managed to fully encounter, capture him but I did enjoy filming him doing his monologues. He is a very profound artist, someone who uses his full physicality to express, explore and create. This is something I admire very much. Although his presence is very strong, I did not feel intimidated or small. He is power, energy and honesty. He is a volcano. He is a great thinker, I believe who does not feel the need to intellectualize his work, keeps it down-to-earth. Laurent is one of those artists who make me feel good about being an artist myself. You could feel and see that he was a performing artist. He feels comfortable in front of the camera and talks naturally (although a bit staged). Although I didn't explain much about the project, he seemed to grasp it immediately. A great guy who has a wonderful aura around him. Looking at his work, the flyers he gave me... I like that sort of stuff. I think he is a fantastic performance artist who deserves a lot of attention which he seems to be getting. The monologues left me empty and sad. It was a profoundly emotional experience filming this great artist. I was already dead tired after the first one. When I asked Laurent if he wanted to another one, I hoped he would say that he wanted a break and then see but he was keen on another one and another and another one. At the end I needed to lie down and relax, even sleep. It took me a roughly an hour to recover from the encounter. I felt a great joy and was in love with everything around me. I wanted to kiss the old lady crossing the road and cuddle all the dogs on the way home. I hope to bump into Laurent again one day.
monologue 1 (16 May 2013)	monologue 2 (16 May 2013)	monologue 3 (16 May 2013)	monologue 4 (16 May 2013)
Michèle Bouhet & Jean-Louis Compagnon	story teller musician	France	website website
personal comment: What can I say? Two absolutely beautiful people. Jean-Louis and Michèle are not only very talented artists but also wonderful human beings which obviously reflects in their artistic practice. I didn't need to explain the project in details as they understood where I was coming from and what I was doing. Doing the monologues was very easy with them. It was a joy in fact. As Michele was watching Jean-Louis doing his monologue she was very moved by what he said and then started to talk together which I filmed – a monologue in a dialogue form. The last monologue they did together was a performance – a most wonderful and harmonious spectacle. No rehearsal or talking much about what they were going to do which proves that they are an amazing artistic duo. France must be proud of such children. This was the first time I did not feel any emptiness or sadness right after the monologues. The impression was subtle but profound and hit me an hour later - I needed a three-hour siesta!
monologue Michèle (17 May 2013)	monologue Jean-Louis (17 May 2013)	monologue together (conversation) (17 May 2013)	performance monologue together (17 May 2013)
Alexandre Blondel	dancer	France	www.carna.fr/
personal comment: Alex is a good guy. Very friendly, open and positive and down-to-earth. With a big smile he arrived half an hour too late. After a quick conversation and a small coffee we sat down in the lounge here at La Maison du comédien. The first monologue was mainly about his work as a dancer which was interesting and very positive. He is one of those lucky people who do what they want and make a living with it. The second monologue was about his personal life, his wife and kids. I am not sure if I managed to capture him to be honest. But then again, I think I didn't need to as he is someone I already know. He reminds me of my cousin Raoul, a good looking chap with a big smile who loves the world. I enjoyed our encounter. I liked the way he comfortably sat in the chair while playing with his mug and talking.
monologue 01 (21 May 2013)	monologue 02 (21 May 2013)
Melle Anna Carraud	actress	France
personal comment: Anna is a very special person who reminds me of a character in a Françoise Sagan novel. She is deeply poetic, profoundly sad and filled with an enormous joy at the same time. I met her during my stay here in Alloue. She was the choreographer of a theatre company that used the residence to put a piece of theatre together. On the second last night of their stay at two in the morning she asked me if she could do a monologue with me. I agreed. We chose the library with the beautiful red wall as the background for her monologue. I can't talk much about her work as an actress as I haven't seen her on stage. I only saw the piece they she choreographed which I did like it a lot. But what I can say is that she is very passionate about theatre and film and seems to have a profound knowledge. I really enjoyed our monologue although I was tired and a bit drunk. It was a profound experience with a very special person who lives in Paris and talks like someone from a romantic novel.
monologue kept private for the time being (24 May 2013)
Philippe Nahon	artistic director of Ars Nova & composer	France	http://www.arsnova-ensemble.com
personal comment: What a great mind and person. I really enjoyed meeting Philippe. He is a very accomplished artist in his field who has done a lot of collaborative work which I personally like a lot. He is open-minded and down-to-earth. Although he is super busy he managed to find some time to spend with me doing three monologues in the meeting room of the headquarters of Ars Nova in Poitiers. Meeting people such as Philippe is always rewarding. It makes you feel good and enthusiastic about life. There is a man you can learn from, a man you would proudly like to call a friend. His whole personality radiates greatness, intellect, experience and kindness. After the monologues we had a coffee in a snack-bar nearby and on my way home I realized once again how much I was in love with the world. Looking at the clouds above the beautiful green, yellow, red landscape looked like music, an enormous symphony above the world. In such moments I don't understand why one cannot love life. (I am fully aware of all the bad things in the world happening at the same time.) I hope very much to bump into Philippe on my next visit to Paris.
monologue 01 (28 May 2013)	monologue 02 (28 May 2013)	monologue 03 (28 May 2013)
Thomas Sillard	multi-media artist	France	http://thomassillard.wordpress.com
Thomas arrived exactly on time at 11am. A cool looking guy with a black leather jacket and denims. He seems a bit shy at first. While we're having a coffee in the kitchen Aurèlie explains the project to him. Although he said that he might not be able to talk for a very long time he ended up doing a monologue that was over 30 minutes. He talked about a piece of work he had done at La Maison and ended up with war stories of his great-grand father. Thomas is a great technician. He creates interactive installation with sound and video and machines and all sort of stuff. Very interesting. I really want to see his work on his website. The more he gets into details, the more excited he becomes, his whole body is talking! Interaction with the public seems to be an important part of his practice. He wants people to experience what he does, share his excitement. A down-to-earth kinda guy who is full of treasures and knowledge. After the monologues he talks about his time in Africa and the political scenarios there. Very interesting indeed. It is difficult not to like him. He is such an open-minded person who listens to others and does not have the need to get his message fully across... but listens! Something one does not find often in the world of art. During the monologues with him I realized why I often get very tired and exhausted during the session: It is because I fully concentrate on the person talking as I watch almost the entire monologues through the screen of my cameras. For some reason I have a lot more freedom to observe as my eyes can stare at certain points of the body which you cannot do in a direct conversation. He said that the fact that I am not looking at him creates more space to dive deeper inside and find stuff to talk about. This is a very interesting point.
monologue 01 (30 May 2013)
Création réalisée dans le cadre des Résidences au Centre culturel de rencontre La Maison du Comédien Maria Casarès, Programme Odyssée, - ACCR, avec le soutien du Ministère de la culture et de la communication.

 

 

 

 

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