LASER Paris "Bodies"

with Abdessamad El Montassir, Maflohé Passedouet, Eric Monacelli, Gladys Foggea. Moderated by Annick Bureaud

EVENT INFO

When:Thursday 9 December 2021, 19h00 - 21h30 CET (UTC+1) Find your timezone here

Where: Cité internationale des arts (Auditorium) 18 rue de l'Hôtel de Ville, 75004 Paris

Website: http://www.olats.org/laser/laser.php

Free admission, register HERE!

LASER Paris takes place in French

Mask and Pass are mandatory.

 

Programme

> Abdessamad El Montassir (artist) // 

"Human Psyche and Plant" about the project Résistance Naturelle 

Epigenetic heritage: Traumas, inscribed in the human psyche, are transmitted over several generations ; those that plants encounter are legible in their bodies, sometimes beyond the original plant.

Can a plant be an indicator of socio-political ratio of power in a given territory?

Taking as a starting point the right for forgetfulness, fictionnal and visceral stories, and the anticipatory trauma, Abdessamad El Montassir explores how imaginary memories, not based on actual lived facts, can build and legitimate a real memory. Simultaneously, he reflects on how those stories can affect citizens social behaviours and how they can be used for historicisation.

The artist uses as a metaphor and metonymy a plant, the daghmous, its evolution and resistance to the stress it faced in its environment, an environment that it shares with the human society in Western Sahara.

> Eric Monacelli, Professor at the Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes of Versailles (University Paris-Saclay, UVSQ), President of the Centre d'Expertise National CEREMH, Maflohé Passedouet, artist,  compagnie Mobilis-Immobilis, and Gladys Foggea, dancer // (project supported by La Diagonale Paris-Saclay) // "Activated Body", about the project À la Verticale de Soi.

In some sports competitions, to "have a handicap" is a sign of excellence. For some of us, wearing a technological equipment is to be "augmented".

Professional dance, still largely perceived as the place of the "perfect" body, is however opening up, for many years now, to all kinds of bodies: smaller, thiner, fatter, taller, less fit, awkward, less virtuoso, older but the equipment of the body often takes the form of a constraint.

À la Verticale de Soi is reversing the proposal. At the border between art and research, performing art and technology, the project is based on the design of a solution to support an inclusive dance and the development of a new equipment for dancers with reduced mobility.

The choreography includes robotic prototypes with costumes and dance to propose a new futuristic vision about handicap. Invisible, the supports between the beings, the objects and the environment allow to turn difficulties into ability.

The scientific research is focused on the study and design of equipment based on soft robotics. It consists of flexible elements articulated by under-dimensioned pneumatic actuators. This approach intends to develop supports for dancers with reduced mobility that are light and safe. The dancer with reduced mobility can hence move without being blocked.

This project is carried by the Mobilis-Immobilis Cie (M. Passedouet)  and the LISV Research Laboratory. It has received the support of the Diagonale Paris-Saclay, UVSQ and the University Paris-Saclay.

SPONSORS:

The Leonardo/ISAST LASERs are a program of international gatherings that bring artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together for informal presentations, performances and conversations with the wider public. The mission of the LASERs is to encourage contribution to the cultural environment of a region by fostering interdisciplinary dialogue and opportunities for community building to over 40 cities around the world. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website. @lasertalks

Rencontre LASER Paris is co-organised Leonardo/Olats and La Diagonale Paris-Saclay (http://www.ladiagonale-paris-saclay.fr), in partnership with la Cité internationale des arts (https://www.citedesartsparis.net/, the research team TEAMeD (https://teamed.univ-paris8.fr/) of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis University and the Research University School ArTeC (https://eur-artec.fr/), with the support of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation (https://www.fondationcarasso.org/) and the programme Investissements d'Avenir.