14.05.2022 - 29.05.2022
Cecilia Bengolea – Deary Steel
14.05.2022 - 29.05.2022
Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
Disciplines
Media arts, Fine Arts, Visual Arts, Dance, Film, Multidisciplinary
Collaboration
Mudam - Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc JeanCurators
Vincent Crapon & Joel ValabregaDescription
Esch2022 – European Capital of Culture and Mudam Luxembourg have commissioned artist and choreographer Cecilia Bengolea to create Deary Steel, a new body of work bringing together dance, performance, sculpture and video installation. The project will be premiered on the occasion of the Luxembourg Museum Days, unfolding across two spaces: Socle C, the concrete foundations of the former Blast Furnace C in Esch-Belval, and the Great Hall of Mudam in Luxembourg City.
Deary Steel is a new body of work set on the site of the historic steel industry of Belval. Inactive since the late 1990s, the three blast furnaces of the former Esch-Belval plant mark the landscape of the Minett region in the South of Luxembourg by their monumental functional and symbolic architecture where industrial knowledge and memories converge. The piece explores the genesis of the social and material dimensions of the industrial era, and how they have choreographed the post-industrial era including connections to the early 20th century dance form danse libre (Free Dance). During the interwar years of the 1930s a group of naturist dancers in Monte Verità (Switzerland) created a community who sought to represent a harmony lost between human action and nature. Inspired by this moment and its relevance to today, Bengolea studied the danse libre repertory, instructing dancers from the Jeune Ballet du Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse de Lyon (CNSMD Lyon).
Through the collaboration with nine dancers from the school, Bengolea choreographed a 30-minute piece, La Danse des Éléments mixing dance and ritualistic gestures from different cultures around the world. Collapsing established categories, the artist’s work combines ancient ceremonial forms with street dance, drawing attention to their common social function and bringing people together.
The video installation shows the moving bodies of ten ballet dancers superimposing depictions of rituals that involve fire as a symbol of energy, empowerment and healing. Images of the active ArcelorMittal Belval steel plant are juxtaposed with found footage from Manga, images of Chinese medicine and archival footage depicting the struggles of female industrial workers and early twentieth century leisure activities.
The work is inspired by the artist’s fascination with the mineral origins of our planet (represented by the collisions of meteorites) and the production of steel as an alluring choreography of the elements reflecting these origins. Describing the industrial production of steel as an ‘alchemic process’ Bengolea maintains that it is ‘not just into the orchestration and composition of these elements’ that interest her ‘but also how they influence and manipulate our bodies, natural cycles and lifestyle’. Referring to Chinese medicine, the artist cites the ‘key role’ the metallic elements play ‘in regulating our meridians in chi gong, reiki and tai chi’.
Deary Steel thus suggests ‘our intimacy with manufactured heavy objects is non less personal and affective than our intimacy with the metals our body carries.’ Invoking the sci-fi character of the Metal Woman (from Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis), Bengolea seeks to explore the attraction of ‘hard manufactured objects and their alchemical secrets and memory, composing a 3D avatar as ‘an inventory of functional and bellic steel objects which construct and threaten our history and ecosystem’.
Collaging gestures, images and sounds from the past and present, Bengolea reveals ‘new synthetic narratives’ within a location where the artist says ‘the roughness and strength of metal, the hardship of strikes, the mechanical choreography of industrial work and the beauty of dance come together.’
Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean and Esch2022 – European Capital of Culture thank all donors and sponsors.
Special thanks to LG for supporting the artist / video installation at Mudam by kindly providing 55’’ OLED screens (18ea.).
We wish to thank ArcelorMittal for their trust and support.
Past Events
14.05.2022 - 29.05.2022 • 10:00 - 18:00
Deary Steel
- Visual Arts
- Exhibition
14.05.2022 • 16:00 - 16:30
La Danse des Éléments
Performance featuring 9 dancers and presented at Socle C, the remnants of the former Blast Furnace C in Esch-Belval. Performance avec 9 danseurs et présentée au Socle C, vestige de l'ancien Haut Fourneau C à Esch-Belval. Performance mit neun Tänzern im Socle C, den Überresten des ehemaligen Hochofens C in Esch-Belval.
Read more Read less- Street Theater / Circus
- Performance / Show
14.05.2022 • 18:00 - 18:30
La Danse des Éléments
Performance featuring 9 dancers and presented at Socle C, the remnants of the former Blast Furnace C in Esch-Belval. Performance avec 9 danseurs et présentée au Socle C, vestige de l'ancien Haut Fourneau C à Esch-Belval. Performance mit neun Tänzern im Socle C, den Überresten des ehemaligen Hochofens C in Esch-Belval.
Read more Read less- Street Theater / Circus
- Performance / Show
15.05.2022 • 15:00 - 15:30
La Danse des Éléments
Performance featuring 9 dancers and presented in the Grand Hall of Mudam Luxembourg. Performance avec 9 danseurs et présentée dans le Grand Hall du Mudam Luxembourg. Performance mit neun Tänzern im Grand Hall von Mudam Luxembourg.
Read more Read less- Street Theater / Circus
- Performance / Show
15.05.2022 • 17:00 - 17:30
La Danse des Éléments
Performance featuring 9 dancers and presented in the Grand Hall of Mudam Luxembourg. Performance avec 9 danseurs et présentée dans le Grand Hall du Mudam Luxembourg. Performance mit neun Tänzern im Grand Hall von Mudam Luxembourg.
Read more Read less- Street Theater / Circus
- Performance / Show
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About
Deary Steel is presented as part of the Luxembourg Museum Days
Jeune Ballet du CNSMD Lyon
Artistic Direction: Kylie Walters
Dancers: Clara Chastagnac, Lucie-Mei Chuzel, Marie-Lou Durand, Eléonore Ghyssaert, Caroline Maquignon, Vincent Mazerot, Mathis Nour, Circé Persoud, Magdalen Wood Ballet mistress: Gaëlle Communal Van Sleen
Rehearsal assistant: Franck Laizet
Costumes: Maïté Chantrel
With the support of
AXA Luxembourg
Technical support
LG
Technology partners for video installation
LG OLED
Media partners
Mousse Magazine; L'Essentiel Radio
Cecilia Bengolea (Buenos Aires, 1979) has presented her work at the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2021); Bourse de Commerce, Collection Pinault, Paris (2021), E.A.T. / Engadin Art Talks, Switzerland (2019); Desert X, Palm Springs (2019); Fondation Giacometti, Paris (2019); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2018, 2015); Fiorucci Art Trust, Stromboli (2018); Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh (2018); TBA21–Academy, Venice (2018); Dia:Beacon, New York (2017); Elevation 1049, Gstaad, Switzerland (2017); Spiral Hall, Tokyo (2016); 32nd São Paulo Biennial (2016); Hayward Gallery, London (2016); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016, 2010); 13th Biennale de Lyon (2015); Tate Modern, London (2015); ICA, London (2015) and 10th Gwangju Biennial (2014). She received the prize of the Critique de Paris in 2008 and the Young Artist Prize in Gwangju Biennale in 2014. Her work can be found in major public collections, including TBA21 Academy, MIRE – Fond cantonal d’art contemporain, The Vinyl Factory, Le CNAP, Le Consortium, Fiorucci Art Trust, Tank Shanghai, Fundación Arco, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, KADIST France. She lives and works in Paris and Buenos Aires. ceciliabengolea.com
Mudam Luxembourg – Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean opened in 2006 in a purpose-built building designed by the renowned Sino-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei and located in the Park Draï Eechelen, overlooking the historic city of Luxembourg. Through its collection, exhibitions, programmes and partnerships, Mudam Luxembourg aims to advance its mission to collect, present and make accessible the most relevant art of our times, for the largest public possible. mudam.com
The Socle C is the remaining concrete foundations of the Blast Furnace C, the tallest and most technically advanced of the 3 blast furnaces of the former Belval steel plant. It was dismantled in the mid 1990’s as a result of the declining steel production in Luxembourg and sold to China where it continues to produce cast iron. The Socle C is surrounded by a large pond with goldfish and is accessible from the university restaurant terrasse. It features a round central platform of 14 meters in diameter that naturally lends itself to host small gatherings such as concerts, theatre plays and performances.
Vincent Crapon (b. 1990) is an exhibition organiser and curator. Prior to joining Esch2022 — European Capital of Culture as exhibition manager he has held positions at Mudam Luxembourg as assistant curator and later curator and has organised exhibitions and performance projects with artists Jutta Koether, Nairy Baghramian, Adam Linder, Trajal Harrell and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker among others. He has collaborated with several museums and institutions including ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, HEK (House of Electronic Arts Basel), Ars Electronica (Linz), Museum Brandhorst (Munich), CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts (San Francisco), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Musée des arts et métiers (Paris) and Musée d’art contemporain – MAC Lyon.
Joel Valabrega (b. 1991) is Curator of Performance and Public Programmes at Mudam Luxembourg. She holds a master’s degree in Architecture (Politecnico di Milano and IUAV of Venice). She has worked within the institutional context (Hangar Bicocca, Triennale Milano and the V-A-C Foundation) as well as in independent spaces (THEVIEW Studio). Together with Davide Giannella, Giovanna Silva and Delfino Sisto Legnani she is responsible for programming MEGA, a Milanese project space. She has worked as visiting curator at the V-A-C Foundation in Moscow & Venice (2018-2019) and later joined the curatorial team of Triennale Milano to curate the public programme PARLA ASCOLTA GUARDA FAI (2020). She has curated exhibitions, performances and special projects with artists including Alexandra Bachzetsis, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Nicholas Grafia and Mikolaj Sobczak, Yasmine Hugonnet, Jacopo Jenna, M¥SS KETA, Gianni Pettena, Alessandro di Pietro, Éliane Radigue, Michele Rizzo, Vasya Run, Strasse, ∞OS. Her curatorial practice is carried out alongside research and collaboration with art magazines.