Martigues and Port-de-Bouc are two towns situated side by side (CÔTE À CÔTE). Connected by the Canal de Caronte, they share a history linked to the port, the sea and migration. More than 70 participants, most of them residents of a hostel for newcomers and asylum seekers, worked together with the company for several days to culminate in a spectacular moment with more than 300 spectators: A poetic and musical journey, between land and sea, through the heart of our memories.
Project description
Our proposal responded to a specific need: the need of many of the newcomers in the community to be seen, to tell their story outside of the tedious context of the bureaucratic procedures they have to go through in order to get settled in their new host country, potentially meeting others and sharing their experiences. Our starting point for the work process allowed us to create an environment in which the participants felt protected, but at the same time, left them enough space to express themselves.
We worked with them on basic notions such as ‘silence’, the gaze, ‘being together’, ‘feeling part of’. We asked each participant to bring a photo of someone they had left behind.
Our aim at creating silence and generating a space for The Other to be seen and acknowledged has proved to be interesting and appropriate. We created a journey which took place after dark and which gave the audience a sense of leaving behind something known and heading towards the unknown.
The theatrical proposal introduced the different groups arriving from a distance, a distance generated a void. Everything in absolute silence, broken at times only by distant music. Everything was set to create an encounter, an unexpected gathering. A meeting in a peculiar land, under a huge railway bridge full of stories from the past, a meeting between eyes that told their stories and eyes that wanted to listen to them. Only in this way, we managed to end in a cathartic collective cry and dance.
The experiences of the workshop participants, people with a recent and traumatic migratory past, made us see that, once again, the artistic object provides distance, protects the individual and turns reality into pure emotion.
Recap of the project
Title: Côte à Côte
Commissioned by: Lieux Publics, Citron Jaune, Ville de Martigues and Théâtre Sémaphore.
Format: Workshops, un-announced appearances and a big final public event
Dates: April 26th - May 4th, 2024
Place: Martigues & Port-de-Bouc (France)
Kamchàtka is an artist collective of diverse nationalities and disciplines who’s members first met in Barcelona in 2006. Driven by the same interests and concerns and under the artistic direction of Adrian Schvarzstein, they started training intensely in group improvisation on the streets of Barcelona and researched the subject of immigration. Barcelona… an ideal city for confronting a society laden with contradictions and immersed in profound problems of integration.
Since 2007, they have created their own poetic language around a trilogy on human migration - Kamchàtka (2007), Habitaculum (2010) and Fugit (2014) and have been performing in more than 30 different countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Their latest creation Alter (2021) is a site specific performance which is intimately linked to the landscape and to interaction with the audience.
In 2023 and 2024 Kamchàtka is working on two special site specific projects which take place in the South of France.
The company also offers the Migrar workshop, a unique human experience around the Kamchàtka performance, for the inhabitants of your city, as well as an indoor production with a Symphony Orchestra of your choice - Music for wild beasts - an approach to classical music for all audiences.
Actors and actresses
Cristina Aguirre, Maïka Eggericx, Claudio Levati, Andrea Lorenzetti, Lluis Petit, Josep Roca , Eduardo Rodilla, Santi Rovira, Gary Shochat, Prisca Villa, Mamadou Diallo, Jan Estebanell , Emma Rovira , Greta Levati , Petra Lou Driss, Monique Ulpat , Anastasio Agapidis , Brigitte Savard, Bardzakian Isabelle, Benmalek Najat, Chilli Pia, Cros Philippe, Diallo Aminata, Fargetton Dominique, Giaretti Louisiane, Lopez Stephane, Savard Monique, Bali Souleymane,Blanchard Agnes, Abakar Kabashe, Abdalla Ahmed, Ahmad Ismail Mhamed, Ahmadi Abdulbasier, Aydin Mikail, Bah Souleymane, Barry Alseny, Cisse Safiatou, Diallo Aminata, Dago Gbadjo Lea, Gbale Deba Leatittia Joelle, Diallo Oussoumani, Diallo Oumar Diogo, Ghanem Louay, Haile Endryas, Hossain Ibrahim, Hussein Moudjahid, Khalil Abdallah, Malakhail Abdul Baset, Naseri Nasim, Niazai Ghairat, Pasha Hazrat Bilal, Poele Laurent, Sadat Sayed Munir, Tenzin Phuntsok, Waleed Mohamed, Yacoub Adam Ismail, Isabelle Outre, Christelle Tergou
Artistic coordination
Prisca Villa, Santi Rovira, Gary Shochat
Music direction
Thomas Le Saulnier / La Fausse Compagnie, Olivier Ronfard
Musicians
Olivier Ronfard, Thomas Andurand, Corinne Arbogast, André Colomar, Hervé Dequidt, Sandie Dhorne, Clara Dhorne, Tom Dhorne, Laurent Dhorne, Jean Jorge, Gabriel Mula, Anthony Moreno, Jean-Marie Moreno, Irène Patris, Francine Visconti, Serge Visconti, Philippe Goalard, , Corine Bouvet, Loubna Bechagra, Safa Bechagra, Nora Amrouche, Ismaïl Amrouche, Fatoumata Doumbauya, Gaël Lambin, Maika Eggericx, Claudio Levati.
Support for participants
Nina Driss, Agathe Laforce, Azucena Moya Morcillo, Lou Montézin
Production
Rita Stivala
Distribution
HH Producties
Photos
@Hugo Frezal, @kamchatka
A production of CARRER 88, S.L. accompanied by HH Producties.
