16.12.’24

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° n/a EN

Questioning sources and artists to write a history of Western contortion from the nineteenth century to the present day

Description

Target audience: junior academic and artistic researchers

Program

The talk will start with a review of the various sources – sometimes competing, sometimes complementary – that have enabled me to write a history of contortion mostly based in Europe, the United States, and Canada: press, postcards, photographs, films. I plan to focus on gender, artistic, and social issues. In the nineteenth century, contortionists (mainly men) became famous with animal pantomimes. They were then considered very close to freaks. During the 1920s, these “boneless wonders” became known as “contortionists,” and were increasingly considered as athletes and sportsmen. By the mid-twentieth century, more and more women contortionists became famous. They inspired painters and filmmakers, and their use of their body testified to a progressive and paradoxical liberation of women, through which female image was altogether eroticized and autonomized. Flexibility aroused aesthetic, commercial, and social interest. Since the 1980s, contortionists have made their way onto theatre and opera stages, in advertisements, fashion shows, TV programmes, and social networks. The over-the-top performance model, however, has been increasingly criticized as artists insist on evolving in their art while preserving their body. Moreover, flexibility has become an envied and popular quality in different arts and practices (such as pole dance and yoga).

Course number:
n/a
Type:
Lectures and study days
Area of interest:
Art and Culture
Language:
EN
Academic year:
2024 - 2025
Starting date:
16.12.2024
Lecturers:
Ariane Martinez is a Professor in Performing arts (Theatre, Mime and Circus) at the University of Lille. Her Laboratory is the CEAC (Centre d’études des arts contemporains / Centre for the Study of Contemporary Arts). She started her career at Sorbonne-Nouvelle (Paris), where she won the Sorbonne Nouvelle thesis prize (2008) for her thesis Pantomime: Minoring Theatre. A Study of Pantomime Experiments (Dramas, Shows, Essays) in French theatre from 1880 to 1945. In 2009, she was elected Associate Professor at the University of Grenoble-Alpes, UMR LITT&ARTS Lab. In 2017, she moved to Lille, where she became a Professor in 2023.
Location

S.S209 ARIA attic, Lange Sint-Annastraat 7, 2000 Antwer

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