Béatrice Didier

AMOR AOMORI

Would you take me on a walk to your favorite place?”

Béatrice DIDIER began her residency in Aomori by posing this question to local residents.

“Could you write down a few words on this leaf? I’ll write my own message on another leaf. Then we’ll exchange them.”
This suggestion to the four participants who collaborated on Didier’s project allowed the five of them to share with each other the things they noticed and felt during their walks together around Aomori.

The leaves exchanged between Didier and the four participants are displayed in pairs, with each pair corresponding to one of the four drawings of their respective walking routes, traced on the gallery floor. In the space opposite, across from short poems that Didier composed daily during her residency, video recordings are displayed along with the typewriter she used. Throughout her 15-plus-year career as a performance artist, the Brussels-based Didier has consistently utilized her own body and its experiences as important materials in her artistic creations. The pieces shown here can be thought of as the traces of her experience in Aomori, an experience that revisited the everyday act of “walking.” Each of these traces is organically connected, and together form an image which serves as a more tactile record through which we can vicariously experience the thoughts that passed through Didier’s walking body. (Tomo Setou, ACAC)

photos@Béatrice Didier and ACAC

This installation was created in the context of the project Spinning Scapes at ACAC,

under the patronage of the Belgian Embassy in Japan.

With my deep gratitude to all participants and the team of ACAC

In silence, Oulu

On 1th and 2th november 2024,

One by one, in the culturhouse VALVE theatre room, the spectator was invited to face me through a one-way mirror.

In silence.

To observe her/his face.

Then mine.

Then our two faces combined in a single image.

Little by little, the mirror is removed, until we find ouselves face to face.

As our body is the place and time of our human condition (D. Le Breton)

Until the light shone on who became the actress/the actor.

Before it gets dark.

Photos@Annina Kettunen

This performance took place in the context of the the festival Kehä / One-to-One

Into Your Life, rue de Lambrechies

Le 29 mai 2024, de 15h20 à 16h00, des feuilles de lierres ont été cueillies sur l'ancien site de charbonnages non loin du fief de Lambrechies.

Le 2 juin 2024, de 16h40 à 17h40, dans les ruines de ce site (que certain.e.s nomment déchetterie), onté tapés à la machiné les noms des victimes du Fief de Lambrechies, décédées les 15 et 17 mai 1934.

Sur le chemin de retour une photo de la stèle a été accrochée au grillage de la concession du Fief de Lambrechies.

Cette action a été réalisée pour l'installation "En mémoire de...", présentée pour la soirée de rencontre à Frameries dans le cadre de la résidence à la Fabrique de Théâtre

Action @ Béatrice Didier Vidéo @ Luis Alvarez

Into Your Life, Marché de Frameries

Le 1° juin 2024, de 11h00 à 12h00, quelques feuilles de lierre contenant le nom des victimes de la catastrophe du 16 décembre 1875 onté été offertes aux passant.e.s sur le marché.

Cette action a eu lieu dans le cadre de la résidence à la Fabrique de Théâtre, ayant donné lieu à une installation lors de la soirée de rencontre à Frameries le 6 juin 2024.

Action @ Béatrice Didier Vidéo @Luis Alvarez

Into Your Life, Fabrique de Theâtre, Frameries

Le 31 mai 2024, de 10h26 à 11h42, sur la scène de la salle l'Orestie, ont été tapés à la machine les noms des victimes de Frameries décédées lors d'une explosion qui eut lieu le 16 décembre 1875 au n°2 de l'Agrappe (cfr "Le Grisou" d'Emmanuel Laurent).

Cette explosion (peut-être volontaire=acte criminel=sabotage?) causa un coup de poussier ou de grisou qui tua une centaine de personnes.

Action @ Béatrice Didier Video @ Luis Alvarez

Installation "En mémoire de...", dans le cadre de la résidence à la Fabrique de Théâtre

Walking by reading

On the terrace of Ueli Hirzel, which overlooks a path inviting you to walk, on the 5th I looked through David le Breton's book "Walking life, a quiet art of happiness", removing the verb "to walk"..

This action was carried out as part of the residency at Château de Monthelon,

on the theme of walkability...