performance
In 1942 Dumoulin couple went out to the mountains to take care of the herd of cows and they never came back. Only in 2017 their bodies were found. Their children could not understand what happened nor say a proper goodbye for 75 years as they lived hoping that they'll come back or that their bodies will be found. This story reminiscence a personal story of Alicja Pilarczyk, the story of a sudden loss of a father and a feeling of loss that seems unreal to this day. Both stories will operate as a bridge to look at grief from various perspectives. When a beloved person passes away, the memories remain. They come in a form of pictures, sounds, smells, feeling segments, shapes of objects. Losing a parent, especially for a young person, means altering life, changing your own inner roles, rephrasing your desires. Nevertheless, the empty space that is left creates abandoned universe of images showing past situations, sometimes very vivid, sometimes disturbing, and sometimes deformed by time and our personal filters. This universe also consists of hope and wishes that will never be fulfilled. It stays in human soul as a shadow, that never disappears, yet it has to be found and domesticates so it doesn’t determine life.
The title “Corpuscle” was formed as an attempt to . English word ‘corpuscle’ is a synonym to a word particle and is usually used in biology as blood cell. In the context of a play it symbolizes life and death.
Creators:
Alicja Pilarczyk – performance, music, idea, dramaturgy
Katherine Newton – sound, scenography, dramaturgy
Justyna Celeda – script, dramaturgy, directing
Also:
Emilia Łapko – photography
Marcelline Dumoulin – heroine of the play, the daughter of the couple that died in 1942 in Alps. In the play, there is a recorded conversation with her from 16.03.2023 (Savieze, Switzerland).
Gerda Montandon – translation
The premiere: 06.06.2023, Gare du Nord, Basel (Switzerland)
The performance was created as a part of a cycle of events carried out in Gare du Nord, Basel, by the Friendly Collective, which Alicja Pilarczyk is a member of. It was also, to some extent, a summary of the research on the theme of mourning and death in East African cultures. This research, conducted by Alicja Pilarczyk and Emilia Łapko, took place in February and March of 2023, as a part of the Transcultural Perspectives on Art and Art Education (TPAAE) project and the ProHelvetia Johannesburg research grant. The performance is accompanied by a photography exhibition of the same title, which is the result of Alicja and Emilia’s cooperation in Kenya in February 2023.
The project is financed by the courtesy of:
ProHelvetia, Fondation Nicati-de Luze, Oertli Stiftung, Anne-Marie Schindler Stiftung Erna und Curt Burgauer Stiftung Ernst Göhner Stiftung
