Mnémosyne

Mnémosyne

A photography & performance project

 

Mnémosyne to express the memory of a world: the world of the choreographer and visual artist Josef Nadj. Thirty years after the creation of his first performance, he produces a global piece, both photographic project and theatrical performance. All along his journey, since he was a student at the school of Fine Arts of Budapest, the artist has taken pictures. Reclaiming a practice developed alongside his main work, Josef Nadj digs into his own memory to widen once again his creative horizon. Artistic turning point or return to the roots? For Mnémosyne, he has conceived a large photographic exhibition and a black box in which he stages himself – acting, dancing, performing – in a close distance with his audience.

Imagine a narrow space, closed and dark, a camera obscura in the waiting. The visitor becomes a spectator, or even an observer. In the intimacy of this cabinet where a few curiosities come to life, Josef Nadj gives us a short performance of a rare density: every movement, every action, every second is an echo of his personal and artistic journey, magnified by a clean sketch in the vein of Beckett.

Then comes the thought that the title Mnémosyne sounds a little bit like Las Meninas, Velasquez’ masterpiece. Like the famous painting, Mnémosyne contains a multiplicity of looks that keep enhancing and enriching each other.

 

Around the black box where the performance takes place, Josef Nadj has imagined a diverse photographic exhibition. Each one of the pictures displayed around the box tells a story, to be viewed as individual shows hung in space. Each image contains a unique memory, known only to the artist -there are found objects kept because of their suggestive power, pieces of art that keep inspiring him and all kinds of souvenirs. Along with the brevity of the performance, these images evoke a relation to time that spans through many years, from the search for forms to the composition of the images, from the choice of the technique to the actual moment the shot was taken.

 

Personal and surreptitious tribute to The Atlas – German art historian Aby Warburg’s unfinished project – Mnémosyne is all in all a total piece of art – installation, performance, and exhibition at the same time. Each spectator retains one final image, an impression that questions our vision and our memory: what did we see?

 

Marylène Malbert, interview with Josef Nadj

5 > 10 october 2021 

TERRITORY FESTIVAL

Moscow (RU)

 

5 > 17 april 2022

Théâtre de Lorient 

Lorient (FR)

 

 

History:

 

27 august > 1 september 2021 

MITTELFEST

Cividale del Friuli (IT)

 

24 november – 7 december 2019

DESIRE CENTRAL STATION FESTIVAL

Subotica (SRB)

 

14 – 16 november 2019

FLOW FESTIVAL

Sfantu Gheorge (RO)

 

30 july – 03 august 2019

Paris L’été Festival

Paris (FR)

 

19 – 23 july 2019

Kalamata Dance Festival

Kalamata (GR)

 

26 april – 10 may 2019

La Filature / Galerie d’Exposition

Mulhouse (FR)

 

16-21 april 2019

Le CENTQUATRE

Paris (FR)

 

27 march – 6 april 2019

Charleroi Danse / La Raffinerie

Bruxelles (BE)

 

25 february – 16 march 2019

LE QUARTZ – SCENE NATIONALE DE BREST / FESTIVAL DANSFABRIK

Brest (FR)

 

30 january – 9 february 2019

Le Trident / Le Point du Jour

Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (FR)

 

5-25 january 2019

Teatro Nacional São João

Porto (PT)

 

22-27 september 2018 (creation)

Biennale de la danse de Lyon

Lyon (FR)