MORE et encore

One would of course think about the idea of a path between the out- side and inside, leading to new amalgamations and a possible relation between separate entities. Besides the play on words which suggests an idea of intimacy, the neologism INtime/EXtime could be translated from English (for the French public) by “in time/out of time”, this oblique stroke which pegs together two opposites, a simple line which both separates and unites in an ultimate attempt to find verticality. A couple, in somewhat, delimited by a typographic parenthesis, demonstrating the stake of the individualized body, of its limits, its movements, its trade with other bodies. Agent bodies, in this case three singularities twice, which come together in a double project of trios which are INtime/EXtime (Anne Laurent, Matthieu Doze and Alain Buffard) and MORE et encore (Matthieu Doze, Rachid Ouramdane and Alain Buffard). 

The air circulates between our inside and the outside. As a conductive element, it states that we are open. Therefore alive. That we are a non-closed circuit, unachieved. From there came the idea of the extension of a body. But one must first feel this body. It is by touching that it feels, it touches the outside because it touches itself as if outside. This sequence, for instance, where our three bodies come together by articulating a segment in relation to the mass of the two other bodies, produces an extension which makes the belonging proper to each body undetermined. This gives way to a coming and going between single and multiple, fusion and fragmentation, form and shapelessness. Often unpredictable, only slightly definable, this combination of movements depends upon the absolute necessity of the movement of one in order to provoke that of the others… and the organization of these extensions allows the body’s own existence. 

In the domain of expansion, we have also experimented with the addition of costumes which underline forms or invent new anatomies. As if the relation between surfaces or envelopes gave birth to two skins and two insides… Balloons which inflate or offer new volumes, additional areas of contact, pneumatic or acoustic appendages. 

From breath and sound, one also comes to language, in reference to a Vito Acconci performance, also losing sight while trying to designate parts of the other’s body. This impossible attempt parallels the primary function of language: description and information. The simplicity of the language’s literal usage weakens the relationship and forces the blind to reconstruct indefinitely the partner’s body. The loss of sight slowly erodes the steadiness of the body. Its structure can only be reconstructed by tactile means. The mistakes of guesswork intensify the presence of the body in the world. 

MORE et encore is recycled from the lexical base of INtime/EXtime. Both choreographies can be presented independently. Double recycling, INtime/EXtime, a “quotation” from Acconci’s work, and MORE et encore, a recycling from INtime/EXtime. The quotation: borrowing or homage? Repetition, duplication or derivation? With the frequency of quotations in our postmodern society, originality ceases to be an absolute value. Or else, it is a refuge – the last one? But what does this all mean, in an era of reproducibility systems, computer networks and sampling? Attachment to originality would be to hold on to the idea of origin. Beware of copies, ideas must be brand marked “authentic” and if possible new. 

Recycling, yes, but by eliminating matter from its origin to offer other viewpoints, such as an enlarged index. Establishing a temporary order with various constructions. Annotating a register of interpretation and differentiated intentions with the same choreographic material: thus, for showings, the form of MORE et encore will evolve. The content of the piece can unfold, according to the context in which it is presented.

The work scheme being that: the recurrence and the repetition can paradoxically distance us from the figure itself. This also means that a piece is “the addition of some occurrences and not a finished product.”*

Alain Buffard [March 1999]

* Catherine David, in Vacarme, n° 7, January 1999, p. 61.