Phia Ménard – CIE Non Nova (FR)

The Mother House / Maison Mère

3000 HUF / 2400 HUF
Blade Runner, Parthenón, wonderwoman

Dressed like a sci-fi version of the goddess Athena, she recreates the Parthenon using pieces of cardboard. Her plan is to build a house for Europe, while at the same time highlighting how exposed homeless people and refugees are. Just as makeshift cardboard dwellings no longer offer any protection when the first rain shower comes, Ménard’s painstakingly created temple is also transient. A radical, powerful evening about humankind and our environment in the eternal cycle between dying and becoming.

„Here I propose a piece of performance art, which could then be followed by a sequel; the initial project is composed of three performances, of which this is the first. Although the provisional title is « Contes immoraux » or « Immoral Tales », there won’t be a moral, and there definitely won’t be any didacticism. The questions raised by documenta 14 in this year’s proposition : « Learn from Athens », and « Parliament of Bodies », clash in their reflections on identity, the body and macer, the groundwork of my research. Trying to imagine a form for these two places, Kassel and Athens, is the intellectual equivalent of doing the splits. In order to nourish the basis of my work I have chosen not to immerse myself in the two cities, as this would require a long stretch of time which I simply don’t have. Instead, my creation process will be focused on reading, research, dialogue and diving into macer, using empirical methods of exploration. I will be viewing the subject macer through a prism of components which oscillate between political gestures, body affirmation and the contradiction of elements.” Phia Ménard

Phia Ménard's name may sound familiar to those who visiting Trafó regularly. She was here with two new circus shows: in 2014 she brought Vortex and in 2015 the Afternoon of a Foehn. The French performance and circus artist learned from the greatest juggler of the era, Jerome Thomas, before setting up his own company, CIE Non Nova.


Dramaturgy and stage direction: Phia MÉNARD and Jean-Luc BEAUJAULT

Scenography: Phia MÉNARD

Performance: Phia MÉNARD

Music and sound space: Ivan ROUSSEL

Stage managers: Jean-Luc BEAUJAULT, Pierre BLANCHET and Rodolphe THIBAUD

Costums: Fabrice Ilia LEROY

Technical manager: Olivier GICQUIAUD

Co-director, production and administration: Claire MASSONNET

Production assistant: Clarisse MÉROT

Public relations: Adrien POULARD

Assistant touring coordinator: Lara CORTESI

Executive production : Compagnie Non Nova

Coproduction : documenta 14 - Kassel and Le Carré, Scène nationale et Centre d’Art contemporain of Château-Gontier

Non Nova is subsidised by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication – DRAC des Pays de la Loire, Nantes City Council, the Conseil Régional des Pays de la Loire, the Conseil Départemental de Loire-Atlantique, the Institut Français (France’s international cultural relations body) and the BNP Paribas Foundation.

The company is based in Nantes.

The company Non Nova / Phia Ménard is currently associated artist at Malraux scène nationale Chambery Savoie, and the «TNB, Centre Européen Théâtral et Chorégraphique de Rennes ».

The project “Mother House” has received a special support from the Institut Français and the City of Nantes.

"Az Anyaház fegyelmezett minimalizmusa ellenére is sikerrel bizonyítja, hogy a kísérleti színház nem egyenlő a kevesek színházával, és a tudatos építkezés nem zárja ki az erős érzelmi hatásokat. A pop-referenciákban bővelkedő, járatlan utakat találó Anyaház a játéknyelv minden játékossága és derűje ellenére végtelenül szomorú előadás. Antik tragédia kartonpapírból. " - Herczog Noémi

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