Walls and Bridges

Performances / discussion. Co-presented with Roulette, les Subsistances and Time Out New York

Reservation : please email roulette(at)roulette.org with the subject line “RSVP – Portrait of Man as an Animal”

Are, we, humans, so special? Four artists and two scientists will probe the very nature of humanity, presenting, discussing and embodying the wild instincts and behaviors that reside in us.

Zoomorphic Wild Man

A collective work by Cyrille Casmeze and Jade Duviquet (Compagnie du Singe Debout)

Since his childhood, Cyril Casmeze has been obsessed with the idea of perfectly imitating many animals, and perhaps even becoming an animal. Jade Duviquet interviews Casmeze, using questions posed by the performer’s relatives. How does his animality effect his relationships with humans? And with animals? Cyril Casmeze responds with words, movements, cries and transformations.

Five Beasts

A collective work by Ned Rothenberg and Rinde Eckert.

Five Beasts is a set of five portraits as seen through the eyes and heard through the utterances of an animal. Noises become an elemental language without words. The guises are various, com- bining characteristics of predator, prey, ruminant, and scavenger. Each portrait, then, is a kind of totem: man as wolf, mouse, ox, vulture, dog. These animals put our pretensions in relief and chal- lenge our grand anthropocentrism. We are absurd and amazed and sometimes beautiful in our utter ignorance.

A scientific discussion

With Ian Tattersall, Pascal Picq, Cyrille Casmeze, Jade Duviquet, Ned Rothenberg et Rinde Eckert

After these performances-investigations, two distinguished paleoanthropologists, Ian Tattersall and Pascal Picq, will join the artists for a talk about the resemblances and differences between the species.