The idea of the Family is taken as the thematic core, where a framework of ‘exercises’ is established that structure the work but that allow participants to create, live & respond ‘in the moment’.
Julia is looking for an ensemble of performers to create a new manifestation of the project. This ensemble will form a generic family unit, within a gymnasium aesthetic and undergo training in order to become the meta_Family. The piece is presided over by the presence of The Step – a persona that is played by Julia as a cross between a coach, an umpire and a referee. The Step is a figure that is not connected to the Family by blood and therefore wields a particular control which is unique to the outsider.
According to Julia, a family is a variable unit of human beings that exists in multiple ways, with its own internal rules of operation and structuring protocols. Each family, although unique, has some generic elements. It is this archetypal image of family that the project explores – how the very attempts at constructing and sustaining a version of normality lead to tensions and unnatural suppressions that in turn manifest themselves in perverse co-dependencies and dysfunctional behavior. The space in which the meta_Family functions is a type of gymnasium – a site for organizing physical and psychological behavior, a zone of instruction, workout and the interplay of power dynamics. The intention is to modulate the conventions of both the family and the gymnasium to create a hybrid of both.
The meta_Family project is a work that is never complete, always modulating, resisting the fixed or the finished, being re-born in each new location, in each new home, with each new group of participating members.
At the end of the process there will be a public presentation of meta_Family at Festival Trouble #8.
In collaboration with Les Halles / Trouble #8
Auditions:
4 and 5 May, 11 - 5 pm at Les Halles Selection announced on the 7 May
If you want to be part of the project and do the audition, please send an email before the 15 April to cifas@cifas.be including a CV and something about yourself, your performance experience, why you want to be involved in the piece and which selection workshop day you would like to attend (4 or 5 May)
Julia lives in London. She works in various combinations as director, performer, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist.
Modulating between performance and installation, she aims to offer the spectator and the artists involved a particular live experience. Often the role of the audience and the conventions of theater are questioned in a particularly immersive environment. Themeta_Family project was initially developed as part of coLABoratorio in Teresina & Rio, Brazil & for an AiR residency at Queen Mary University, London.
Her latest work Medea: Dark Matter Events, is an ongoing collaborative research project with Brazilian artist, Jacob Alves. Julia is co-partner of Barsley_Poppy projects with long-term collaborator Andrew Poppy. They recently completed phase one of Clube Redondo, experimental workshops with children, co-produced with casaBranca (Lisbon/Lagos).
Julia has previously presented her work at Festival Trouble in 2005 and 2008.
Public Presentation: 1 June at Les Halles in the evening (rehearsal from 10 am).
Each participant will receive a small fee for the public presentation.