Record your culinary stories at the ‘SONOMATON’!

The Compagnie Mirelaridaine is interested in gastronomy, in all types of gastronomy: that of great chefs as much as that of our grandmothers – though especially the latter, to be honest, that heartwarming cooking, those indescribable recipes that are engraved in our memories. As part of the project ‘SONOMATON’, we decided to reach out to you and create an archive of our shared culinary memory. The title of the project is derived from photomaton, the French word for a photo booth – except that we won’t record your face but your voice, as you will be asked to tell your special story with cooking.

A work in progress, the ‘SONOMATON’ will be informed by the company’s reflections on the relationships between humans and eating. It will collect and archive human words from the realm of commensality*, documenting what brings us together around a table in order to build a plural heritage of all our cultures. In the era of big data, the ‘SONOMATON’ aims to draw a map of memories observed through the prism of food, a European archive of intangible content gathered and made accessible on a dedicated website.

As part of the ‘SONOMATON’, the Compagnie Mirelaridaine will make two artistic propositions:

The first, ‘Expérience Marcel’, will explore your culinary soft spots and memories. You will be invited to enter our caravan, where you will be welcomed by our archivist who will record your culinary memories and offer you tea and a madeleine. ‘Expérience Marcel’ pays homage to Marcel Proust and his famous madeleine, the pastry which in Search of Lost Time triggers the narrator’s memories of his aunt. As a nomadic museum, the caravan also pays tribute to another Marcel, namely, Duchamp and his ‘Museum in a Box’.

This summer and in September we will be present on the territory of Esch2022, in Esch-Alzette, in Kayl and in the municipalities of the CCPHVA, in order to fill our archives with your delicious memories. Afterwards, you will be able to listen to the testimonies of the inhabitants of the territory of Esch2022 on our website.

The second experience, ‘Le Banquet des Utopistes’, aims to re-enchant daily life in a joyful and playful way by bringing people together around a table. It consists of the creation of a show that offers a sensitive experience of the material gathered for this experience. The opportunity to celebrate the paradigm of discussion during meals, or, how do you change the world by eating?

*Commensality: the practice of eating together.

Project ‘SONOMATON’
Interventions on the territory of Esch2022 from summer 2021 onwards

July 2021
Collection of testimonials for ‘Expérience Marcel’

Kayl, Place du Marché
6 July, from 1 to 6 pm

Kayl, Kermesse, Rue de l’École
9 and 10 July, from 5 to 9 pm
11 July, from 12 noon to 6 pm

September 2021
Collection of testimonials for ‘Expérience Marcel’

11 September in Esch-Alzette as part of the Nuit de la Culture
18 and 19 September in Villerupt as part of the Journées du Patrimoine

Compagnie Mirelaridaine
Delphine Bailleul, Stage Director
www.mirelaridaine.fr