dance | duration 60 min
in English with Italian subtitles
c/o ZONA K, admission allowed after membership 2024

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At the end of the performance on Friday 5 April there will be the meeting “The political gesture of a body-archive“.
The body-archive and gesture as instruments of an investigation into violence, at the centre of Zoë Demoustier’s work, are themes that also belong to other contemporary dance experiences.
One of the most significant is that of Arkadi Zaides and his “Archive”, in which the dancer’s body interprets the proxemics of war, calling into question the gaze of the spectator.
To these intersections is dedicated the meeting with Zoë Demoustier, moderated by Camilla Lietti and Francesca Serrazanetti (Stratagemmi).

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In Unfolding an Archive, Zoë Demoustier unfolds an image archive of 20 years of war reporting. The man behind the camera is her father Daniel Demoustier. The search for a relationship to the imagery of world events with which she grew up is like a movement from far and near. In an attempt at a reconstruction, she brings the archive to life. She dismantles the mechanisms hidden behind the archive images. Gradually, a choreography of poses and gestures is created in a broken timeline of physical memories.

« In Unfolding an Archive I investigate what news is, how journalism works, how you use images to place reality in a certain frame. But there is also a second, much more personal track: what has my father’s special job done to me? It took a long time before I dared to put that into the performance. At some point I realized I couldn’t avoid that question. And that those apparently very personal topics – how
our family functioned, the father-daughter relationship, the question of how present a parent should be – are just very universal: everyone has to deal with them. » Zoë Demoustier in HUMO

Choreography and performance Zoë Demoustier Live sound Willem Lenaerts Sound concept Willem Lenaerts & Rint Mennes Light design Harry Cole Light and technical support Pieter Kint Interview & editing Yelena Schmitz Design & Costume Annemie Boonen Research Annemie Boonen & Willem Lenaerts Dramaturgy Elowise Vandenbroecke Coaching Danielle van Vree Video and sound archive Daniel Demoustier Co-production STUK With the support of the City of Leuven, 30CC, Platform In De Maak Residences STUK, Ultima Vez, Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, Voetvolk Atelier Rubigny Thanks to Shila Anaraki, Oihana Azpillaga, Jonas Beerts, Anna Bentivegna, Stijn De Cauwer, Elliot Dehaspe, Dirk De Lathauwer, Lahja Demoustier, Misha Demoustier, Hannes Dereere, Josine De Roover, Pieter Desmet, Klaas De Somer, Willem Malfliet, Hildegard De Vuyst, Silke Huysmans, Karen Joosten, Koen Theys, Maarten Van Cauwenberghe, Gerlinde Van Puymbroeck, Veerle Van Schoelant, Niek Vanoosterweyck, Bart Vanvoorden, Remo Verdickt, Cas-co Leuven, Dag van de Dans, Danstuin.

Photo by TomHerbots

Zoë Demoustier (1995) is performer and choreographer. The body is always the starting point for her visual representations. From movement she makes links with topical and committed subjects to create documentary choreographic work. Zoë made the performances nesten (fABULEUS/Anna Bentivegna & Ayrton Fraenk), Road to Nowhere (Forsiti’A/Yelena Schmitz), Born to be wild (Thespikon) and worked as a performer and assistant with Kabinet K, Michiel Vandevelde, Alma Söderberg/Manyone, Iris Bouche/Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, David Weber Krebs and Marcelo Evelin. In 2021 she was ambassador of Dance Day in which she created tomorrow’s dance makers in collaboration with De Zendelingen. From 2022 she will start a new collaboration as a choreographer at Ultima Vez. Unfolding an Archive is her first solo performance, for which she has already initiated within the Directing course at the RITCS and Cultural Studies at the KU Leuven. In the performance she uses techniques from the mime corporel tradition that she learned during her studies at the Mime Education in Amsterdam. For Unfolding an Archive she works closely with musician and sound designer Willem Lenaerts.