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BRUGGE 2002
New media and technology
Dance was also present in Format 2002, a
new festival based on new media and
technology in the performing arts,
which was organised by BRUGGE 2002 together
with the Bruges Cultural Centre
(Cultuurcentrum Brugge). Peter Roose
was the curator of this multifaceted festival.
Thus we had Charleroi/Danses
with Body/Leisure, a sparkling dance
show with choreography by Fréderic
Flamand and a monumental décor by
top architect Jean Nouvel. The Belgian
youth group HushHushHush danced
Bobo in Paradise, in which hiphop was
combined with provocative, almost
mechanical bodily movements. The
German company Lilja performed the
graceful production Les Petits Poissons by
Cirque Plume
choreographer Samir Akika, in which
dancers went about tackling the physical interaction with the film medium in an
unconstrained Tarantino style. The dancers of the Japanese group Leni-Basso went a
step further here, and waged a genuine war of attrition with their bodies, in a cutting
and hypnotising multimedia production entitled Finks. And then there was Paixão by
As Palavras, which was premièred in Bruges. For this dance piece on passion,
Claudio Bernardo drew inspiration from Pasolini’s film version of the Gospel according
to Saint Matthew.
However, Format 2002 was more than dance. There were various musical performances
in which contemporary classical music was combined with projections and
images in visual combinations, such as Ballet Mecanique by the Hermes Ensemble,
Screens by Champ d’Action and Blattwerk by Arne Deforce. The celebrated IPEM
organised a three-day workshop for young composers on the theme of new technology
in music. The results were played on the last day of Format 2002, which closed
with Le Bal Digital, with various DJs and VJs, including Walter Verdin. Granular
Sythesis was in Belgium for the first time and presented the highly meditative sound
and video performance Areal.
In the field of word and image, there was the lovely, intimate but surprising performance
Les Aveugles/The Blind. The Canadian company Théâtre Ubu turned
Maurice Maeterlinck’s piece into a “technological phantasmagoria” with masks,
sound tapes and projections.
Just about the most ambitious project within Format was the new creation Philoctetes
by Eric Joris, with a text by Peter Verhelst. He drew inspiration from the Greek myth
of Philoctetes and described the war within the body against wounds and decay, and
connected to this, the human relationship with technology. It was an autobiographical
production that left a lasting impression, with Paul Antipoff, paralysed to the
neck, as actor and user of a computer-controlled installation.
Finally there was a Format circuit with various installations, such as Archive by The
Wooster Group, Pedestrian by Paul Kaiser and Riverbed, Katafalk by cie Mossoux-
Bonté and an installation by Eric Joris and his group Crew.
© CIRQUE PLUME
Format 2002 was an important experiment. On an artistic level, it was a revelation
for Bruges, and far beyond. Projects that had never before been performed or shown
were presented here. Despite the unknown content, public interest was certainly satisfying,
and the final evaluation was also extremely positive.