Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Surrealism in Belgium: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Curated by Xavier Canonne, the director of the Photography Museum of Charleroi, Belgium, the exhibition Surrealism in Belgium: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is currently running until 3 May at the Artis–Naples, The Baker Museum, in Naples, Florida. It’s the first major exhibition in the US to offer a concentrated perspective on surrealism in Belgium, an art movement that was largely marginalized by most Anglo-American explorations of the genre until recently. I translated the catalogue into English.
Baisse-toi montagne, lève-toi vallon
The French-German artist Ulla von Brandenburg presented her first major theatre performance on 18 and 19 March at the Kaaitheater Studios in Brussels in the context of Performatik. ‘Subside, mountain; arise, vale’ is a play sung by five actors and the Brussels Brecht-Eisler Chorus, whose create a sort of ‘re-enactment’ of the celebrations of the Saint-Simonists in Paris between 1832 and 1835. Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), a utopian socialist and forerunner of Karl Marx, set up a large, tightly organised group of thinkers, scientists and industrialists who strived to create a moral, social, political and poetic world order. The performance was written and performed in French. I translated the text of the performance for the surtitles.
The time is always now
To celebrate its tenth anniversary, Passa Porta, the International House of Literature in Brussels, published in early March a collection of essays and interview fragments gathered during the first decade of its activity. A wide range of writers from Paul Auster to Kjell Westö feature in the collection. The book was released in Dutch by De Geus as Het is altijd nu and in French by Les Impressions Nouvelles as Les présents de l’écriture. I co-edited the interview fragments that form the second part of the book(s) with Piet Joostens of Passa Porta.
Transquinquennal
Transquinquennal is a Brussels-based theatre company that was founded in 1989. They say they hate theatre, and that’s why they make theatre. With or without text, high-tech or low-tech, alone or in collaboration, they make shows that are like them, but no two shows are alike. I recently started working with them on their English-language materials.
PaTRiCK LeNNoN TRaNSLaTioN 