18/5/2011
Gisele Vienne & Dennis Cooper
Hard Hat, Geneve
Last Spring: A Prequel. First exhibition of French choreographer. Gisele Vienne has conceived an animatronics with the features of an adolescent boy. This mechanical character engages in a schizophrenic dialogue with himself, mediated by a hand puppet. The story he tells delineates a field of play - in fact his psychosis - from which he cannot escape.
Concept and directing : Gisèle Vienne
Text and dramaturgy : Dennis Cooper
Voices : Jonathan Capdevielle
Music : Peter Rehberg and Stephen O’Malley
Last Spring: A Prequel is an installation that evokes the world of haunted houses, the virtual space of
video games as well as the Nouveau Roman
Gisèle Vienne has conceived an animatronics with the features of an adolescent boy. This mechanical
character engages in a schizophrenic dialogue with himself, mediated by a hand puppet. The story he
tells delineates a field of play– in fact his psychosis– from which he cannot escape.
Last Spring: A Prequel is the first installment of a monumental installation that will take the form of a
haunted hotel– home to many more characters. Imaginary floor plans of this hotel have been
maniacally scribbled on the walls of Hard Hat, and serve as a backdrop to the narrative.
Gisèle Vienne, born in 1976, lives and works in Grenoble and Paris. She has been working for a
decade as a director, choreographer and set designer. Six of her productions are currently on tour :
This is How you Will Disappear (2010), Jerk (2008), Kindertotenlieder (2007), Eternelle Idole (2009), I
Apologize (2004) and Showroom Dummies (2009).
Dennis Cooper, born in 1953, is a novelist, poet and art critic who lives and works in Paris and in Los
Angeles. His last work of fiction, Ugly Man, has been published by Harper Perennial in 2009. He is a
regular contributor to Artforum and is the editor of the Little house on the Bowery line of fiction books
published by Akashic, New York. He has been collaborating with Gisèle Vienne since 2004.
Peter Rehberg, born in 1968, is a composer and performer of electronic music who lives and works in
Vienna. In the early ‘90s, he was one of the first musicians to use laptops for live performances. He
has collaborated with, among others, Jim O'Rourke, Florian Hecker, Christian Fennesz and Marcus
Schmickler. He is the director of Editions Mego, an electronic record label. He has been collaborating
with Gisèle Vienne since 2001.
Stephen O’Malley, born in 1974 in New Hampshire, lives and works in Paris. A composer, performer
and producer, his work appears on more than fifty albums. He is a founding member to a number of
bands, including Sunn O))), Burning Witch, KTL and Khanate. His music eas recently used as a
soundtrack for The Limits of Control, Jim Jarmush’s last feature film. He has been collaborating with
Gisèle Vienne since 2007.
Opening: Thursday May 19 from 6 to 9 pm
Hard Hat
39, rue des Bains, Geneve
from 6 to 9 pm