LiveArtsWeek - Mette Edvardsen

Mette Edvardsen, norwegian artist living in Bruxelles, works in the performing arts field while also exploring other media and formats such as video and books. For several years she danced and performed with Les Ballets C. de la B., with Hans Van den Broeck and Christine de Smedt, and in pieces by ZOO/Thomas Hauert, Bock & Vincenzi, Mårten Spångberg, Lynda Gaudreau, deepblue and others. She created and produced two pieces in collaboration with Lilia Mestre, and the project Sauna in Exile in collaboration with Heine R. Avdal, Liv Hanne Haugen and Lawrence Malstaf (2002/2004). She choreographed and danced a version of Thomas Lehmen's Schreibstück with Christine de Smedt and Mårten Spångberg in 2004. Her own work includes the pieces Private collection (2002), Time will show (detail) (2004), Opening (2005-2006), The way/you move (installation, 2006), or else nobody will know (2007), every now and then (2009), Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine (2010), Black (2011), No Title (2014) and the video works Stills (2002), coffee (2006), cigarette (2008) and Faits divers (2008). She presents her works internationally and continues to develop projects with other artists, both as a collaborator and as a performer.

www.metteedvardsen.be

Mette Edvardsen Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine -
a library of living books

performance, italian première, co-production Xing/Live Arts Week
(*starting every half hour, advanced booking recommended)

For Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine a group of people have each memorised a book of their choice. They form a collection of living books that spend their time in the library waiting to be picked up. At the lending counter, a reader can order one of these books before being taken by it to a quiet place to have it recited ... Characterised by a great economy of means, the work of Mette Edvardsen explores the sensitive space between performance and language. Inspired by Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 which describes a world in which all books have been burned, her Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine is a remarkable experience. With disarming naturalness and without the intermediary of a physical object, the living books remind us that learning a text 'by heart' is an act of love that mobilises memory as much as forgetfulness. It is the direct transmission of this process that makes the encounter so very moving.

living books available at Biblioteca Salaborsa for Live Arts Week:
Il Fucile da caccia - Inoue Yasushi
In Nessun modo ancora - Samuel Beckett
Se una notte d'inverno un viaggiatore - Italo Calvino
Lessico Famigliare - Natalia Ginzburg
I am a Cat - Soseki Natsume
Bartleby the Scrivener - Herman Melville

concept Mette Edvardsen  
with Mette Edvardsen, Muna Mussie, Tiziana Penna, Luigi Pignati, Irena Radmanovic, Kristien Van den Brande, Cristian Chironi
production Helga Duchamps/duchamps vzw and Mette Edvardsen/Athome
production italian version Xing/Live Arts Week
in cooperation with Istituzione Biblioteche Bologna / Biblioteca Salaborsa
special thanks to Dubbelspel (STUK Kunstencentrum & 30CC, Leuven), Kaaitheater (Brussels), Sarah Vanhee
supported by Norsk Kulturråd, Fond for Lyd og Bilde, Fond for Utøvende Kunstnere, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Flemish Authorities, Reale Ambasciata di Norvegia
title Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine is a sentence from a book by Alexander Smith appearing in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (1953)

tuesday 8 > saturday 12 april > 12 am> 7 pm * > Biblioteca Salaborsa