Presentation
Massimo Furlan
Born from Italian parents in Lausanne on October 8th, 1965, Massimo Furlan, after having followed training at the Beaux-Arts School of Lausanne (1984-1988), initiates an operating cycle centred on the themes of the memory and the forgetting. He exposes regularly since 1987. He’s interested in scenic representation and collaborates with several dance and theatre companies. In 2003 he establishes Numero 23 Prod, pointing out performance and installation. Thence will arise projects such as “Furlan/ Numero 23”, “International Airport”, “(Love story) Superman”, “Palo Alto”, “Numéro 10” and “Les filles et les garcons”.The method
The main thread of Massimo Furlan’s projects is biography. A simple and banal story, the story of a kid born from Italian parents in Switzerland, the story of a teenager like any other. There is no will to speak about himself for himself, as of something unusual. The evoked memories are those of all, at least those of a generation, born in the middle of the Sixties. His work is focused on the memory. The projects arise from memory images: the picture of a singer that hang in his sister’s room (“Je rêve/je tombe” and “Live me/Love me”); moments during which, as a child, he played football on his own in his bedroom while listening to the radio broadcasting matches (“Furlan/ Numero 23”); or when, before going to sleep, he wandered around in his pyjamas with a scarf around his neck imagining himself to be a Super hero (“(Love story) Superman”); or when, as a teenager, he fell in love with a girl and didn’t know what to say to her (“Gran Canyon Solitude”, “Les filles et les garcons”). Each work has its roots in an anecdote, a true story, made of simple elements. From the anecdote one goes to the narration, to the construction of the fiction.
Never bothered by the question of limits between styles, his performances consist of « long images ». They are almost motionless images. With very simple actions (a gesture, a movement, a glance) which remain a long time in front of the spectators, forcing them to enter, to become active, and to make some sense out of it: to build their own story.
In the course of his work, Massimo Furlan questions the act of representing: he revisits icons, tackles the question of failure and the distance between the model and the living, producing in this way a burlesque and poetic effect. Around his projects, he brings together performers with different backgrounds, from top professional players to closest friends.
Construction of the images
Each project starts with a cycle of visions: dreamlike, phantasmagorical, enigmatic images. Those images show up higgledy-piggledy; some are related to intimate memories, and other are stuck to the present, redounding on contemporary history. Little by little bonds of sense and formal bonds appear between those images; overlapping images create a third one. Then comes a more concrete phase related to dramaturgy: the sense-identification process and the highlighting of that sense. A subjacent narration is built. The project is then presented to the collaborators. The third phase is the meeting of the whole team on stage or in the space to be invested. The construction in itself starts (light, sound, interpretation, costume, video, etc.). At this moment the images gain their own duration, their rhythm, their balance.
The choice of the places
Each project proposes a reflection about the place and establishes a dedicated space. The place depends on the story, the anecdote and the thence generated vision.
For project “Furlan/Numero 23”, the place was a stadium: « When I was a kid, I dreamt of being a major football star and winning the championship or, even better, the world cup. I dreamt about all this, alone in my room, listening to the matches live on the radio. With a little ball, I mimicked all the actions described by the commentator ». To speak about that, the wish sprang up to use a true stadium, with a true commentator, and true broadcasting, and of course, a true match in its entirety. The spectators were invited in a stadium to see a match with only one player.
For the project “(Love story) Superman”, it was a theatre stage: the images and sounds had to come out of the dark, the characters had to be isolated, lost in darkness. Theatre techniques allow all that.
To talk about the memory of the parents taking the kids to the airport on Sunday afternoons to watch airplanes take off (“International Airport”), the best thing to do was taking the spectators to the airport in order to experiment these emotions: the beauty of the place, the melancholy of remaining there and going home afterwards. In a certain way, being in the place facilitates the mental journey. It is an additional level of narration.
The duration of the image
The concept of time is fundamental in scenic work. The duration of the images quickly became an essential point: most of the works have in common to be « long image(s) ». Long images are based on the paradoxical fact that an image in itself doesn’t have an established duration. It does not have a limit of time. Nowadays, we are used to look at many images and get quite fast bored with them, and so we wish to see other, being at this level influenced by television, publicity, and cinema. There is wish for rapidity. However, time is necessary for an image to be understood and interpreted. The images shown in the exhibition are simple images, due to the absence of speech or spectacular visual variations. They are almost motionless images. With very simple actions (a gesture, a movement, a glance) which remain a long time in front of the spectators, forcing them to enter, to become active, and to make some sense out of it: to build their own story.
“Furlan/Numero 23” is in itself one single image. It lasts 90 minutes, the duration of an entire football match. The project reproduces a match everyone knows - Italy/Germany, the 1982 World Cup Final -, but played by only one protagonist: Furlan. It’s a single image because the story is already known by everyone. It’s like a form one can immediately contemplate in its entirety. Then one starts looking at it better, « visiting » it, going round it. Time is necessary to do all that.
For the work “Girls Change Places”, the spectators take a train, by night. The train takes them to small stations where they see figures, characters, in expectance, tired, lost. The work finds its origin in the view of the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest in which Patrick Juvet took part. The train trip is built around ten stops, ten stations, ten forms, ten images. Ten moments of several minutes during which the public watches situations with characters that are motionless, or almost. The superposition of these ten enigmatic images gives one long image. The superposition is possible because the ten situations are proposed with enough time. The long image, the total experiment of duration, allows the spectator to start his own story.
The place of the spectator
In some cases, the spectator must be active to make the performance exists (“Live me/Love me” or “Me & Myself” for example) and in other he just needs to sit down and watch. In some other, he gets there by chance (“Superman Cosmic Green” or “Old Station Heroes”). It all depends on the object itself, on the themes used. To have the spectator sing, take the bus, the train or simply to make him/her sit down on an armchair in a theatre depends mainly on the anecdote and the best manner of transforming it into a story. The stadium seems to be the most logical place to speak about the dream to be a major champion. The airport is an obvious place to talk about the idea of flight, of departure.
By confining the spectator in specific positions which reawaken memories in him/her, some kind of multiplication effect happens, the sharing of a common memory, of something collective and personal at the same time.
The images built leave much place for the spectator, for his imaginary. In “Furlan/Numero 23”, the public of contemporary art and theatre, considered as being very reserved, began to play the role of supporter with much commitment and warmth during 90 minutes. The public of the performance had learned the role of football public. Anyone has in mind or experienced something connecting him/her to childhood and to the football world. Undoubtedly the vision of this solitary attempt to rewrite history, in such a pathetic and comic way, and at the same time so spectacular and simple, allows each one to find a way for him/herself, in relation with his/her own personal story. In a certain manner it is the same reaction the spectators have when they attend “(Love story) Superman” : the question of the fancy dress and childhood in relation with the question of time and ageing. All are concerned.
Numero 23 Prod. Company works with:
Diane Decker, performerAnne Delahaye, performer
Philippe de Rham, sound technique and performer
Claire de Ribaupierre, playwright and performer
Karine Dubois, costum designer
Antoine Friderici, light creation and technic director
Sophie Guyot, performer
Thomas Hempler, performer and technicien
Sun-Hye Hur, performer
Shin Iglesias, performer
François Karlen, performer
Julie Monot, make up designer
Pierre Nydegger et Laure Cellier, photographers
Stéphane Vecchione, music creation and performer
Agenda - creations and performances
| Sono qui per l’amore | creation 2008 – 7 performers | 60' | |
| Les filles et les garçons | creation 2007 – 10 performers | 90’ | |
| Palo Alto | creation 2006 – 15 performers | 65’ | |
| (love story) superman | creation 2005 – 10 performers | 65’ | |
| Gran Canyon solitude | creation 2004 – 9 performers | 60’ | |
| Highway to hell | performance 2007 | 5’ | |
| Numéro 10 | performance 2006 | 120’ | |
| Furlan/Numero23 | performance 2002 | 105’ | |
| Old station Heroes | performance 2005 | ||
| Superman Cosmic Green | performance 2005 | ||
| Hyper and Super | performance 2005 | 10’ | |
| International Airport | performance 2004 | ||
| Girls change places | performance 2004 | ||
| Live me / Love me | performance 2001 |
2011
| 25 and 26 March | 1973 | Dampfzentrale, Berne | Switzerland |
| 11 and 12 March | 1973 | Scène nationale du Merlan, Marseille | France | 8 and 9 April | Fortuna | Motel Mozaique, Rotterdam | Netherlands |
| 5 and 6 May | 1973 | Kaserne, Basel | Switzerland |
| 21 May | 1973 | Pôle Sud, Strasbourg | France |
| 8 and 9 June | Schiller Thriller | Schillertage, Mannheim | Germany |
| 16,17 and 18 June | You can speak, you are an animal | Holland Festival, Amsterdam | Netherlands |
| 24, 25 and 26 June | Madre | Théâtre de la Cité internationale, Paris | France |
| 27 and 28 June | 1973 | Theaterformen, Hannover | Germany |
| 18, 19 and 20 August | Aura | FAR Festival, Nyon | Switzerland |
| 26 and 27 August | Aura | Zürcher Theaterspektakel | Switzerland |
| 3 and 4 September | Schiller Thriller | La Bâtie - Festival de Genève | Switzerland |
| 10 September | 1973 | Europan Congress of Culture, Wroclaw | Poland |
| 29 September | Fortuna | Festival Contemporanea, Prato | Italy |
| 19, 20 and 21 October | 1973 | Théâtre des deux Rives, Rouen | France |
| 27 October | 1973 | Festival international de théâtre, Lugano | Switzerland |
| 6 November | 1973 | Festival théâtral du Val d'Oise, Pontoise | France |
| 4 December | 1973 (perfo) | Musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne | France |
| 5 and 6 December | 1973 | Comédie de Saint-Etienne, Made in CH | France |
2010
| 10 and 11 December | 1973 | Gessnerallee, Zürich | Switzerland |
| 2 to 7 December | 1973 | Théâtre de la Cité Internationale, Paris | France |
| 18 to 28 November | 1973 | Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| November 10 | 1973 | Hippodrome, Douai | France |
| 29 to 30 October | 1973 | Kaaitheater, Brussels | Belgium |
| October 15 | Numero 8 | Fondation Serralves, Porto | Portugal |
| 8 and 9 October | 1973 | Festival Le Vie di Modena, Toulouse | Italy |
| October 2 | A blue man in the city | Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse | France |
| September 25 | Ghost | La nuit des musées, Espace Arlaud, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| September 19 | Fortuna | Galleria Civica di Modena | Italy |
| September 4 and 5 | 1973 | La Bâtie - Festival de Genève | Switzerland |
| July 10 to 14 | 1973 | Festival d'Avignon | France |
| June 26 and 27 | It's all forgotten | Théâtre de la Cité Internationale, Paris | France |
| June 11 and 12 | You can speak, you are an animal | Festival Theaterformen, Braunschweig | Germany |
| May 2 | We are the team | Festival Bo:m, Seoul | Korea |
| May 23 and 24 | You can speak, you are an animal | Dampfzentrale, Bern | Switzerland |
| March 11 to 21 | You can speak, you are an animal | Théâtre Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| January 21 to 23 | You can speak, you are an animal | Théâtre de la Cité Internationale, Paris | France |
| January 15 and 16 | Sono qui per l'amore | Kaserne Basel | Switzerland |
2009
| October 16 and 17 | Sono qui per l'amore | L'Hippodrome, Douai | France |
| September 21 and 22 | We are the world | World summit of Arts and Culture, Johannesburg | South Africa |
| September 15 | Concerto pour un micro et cinq chaises | Le Cent Quatre, Paris | France |
| September 5 to 8 | You can speak, you are an animal | La Bâtie, Festival de Genève | Switzerland |
| August 23 | 22 Juni 1974, 21 Uhr 03 | International Summer Festival, Kampnagel, Hamburg | Germany |
| August 21 and 22 | Sono qui per l'amore | International Summer Festival, Kampnagel, Hamburg | Germany |
| June 18 | Performance | KPMG, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| June 4, 5 and 6 | Make noise, be a girl! | Le Merlan en vagabondage, Marseille | France |
| May 30, June 4, 5 and 6 | Live me / Love me | Le Merlan en vagabondage, Marseille | France |
| May from 22 to 23 | Sono qui per l'amore | Centro Parraga, Murcia | Spain |
| May from 15 to 16 | Sono qui per l’amore | Dampfzentrale, Berne | Switzerland |
| April from 23 to 26 | You can speak, you are an animal | Les Subsistances, Lyon | France |
| March 29 | Pino Tozzi | Théâtre de la Cité internationale, Paris | France |
| March 25 | (love story) Superman | Linz, Kulturhauptstadt Europas | Austria |
| February 26 to 27 | Sono qui per l'amore | Globalize: Cologne 09 | Germany |
2008
| March from 27 to 29 | (love story) superman | Théâtre Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| April from 17 to 27 | Sono qui per l’amore | Théâtre Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| May 16 | Das Wunder von Cordoba | Wiener Festwochen Festival, Vienna | Austria |
| May from 23 to 25 | Old station Heroes | Uovo Performings Arts, La Triennale di Milano | Italy |
| May 31 | Sono qui per l'amore | Les Halles de Sierre | Switzerland |
| June 14, 15 and 16 | (love story) superman | Festival 100 Dessus Dessous, Parc de la Villette | Paris |
| June 22 | 22. Juni 1974, 21 Uhr 03 | Theater der Welt Festival, Halle | Germany |
| July 13 | Sono qui per l'amore | Fondacao de Serralves, Porto | Portugal |
| July from 18 to 25 | Chanteur plutôt qu'acteur | "Sujet à vif", Festival d'Avignon | France |
| August 22 and 23 | Sono qui per l'amore | Zürcher Theater Spektakel | Switzerland |
| September 9, 10 and 11 | Sono qui per l'amore | La Bâtie Festival, Geneva | Switzerland |
| September 23 | Sono qui per l'amore | La semaine culturelle vaudoise à Saint-Gall | Switzerland |
| September 27 | Musica leggera | La nuit des musées, Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| October 3 | Live me / Love me | FIES Factory one, Dro Trieste | Italy |
| December 12 and 13 | Sono qui per l'amore | Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfort | Germany |
2007
| January 11 and 12 | Hyper and Super | Festival Particules, Théâtre de l’Usine, Geneva | Switzerland |
| March 10, 11 and 12 | Palo Alto | Gessnerallee, Zurich | Switzerland |
| March 21 | Palo Alto | Dampfzentrale, Berne | Switzerland |
| April from 17 to 29 | Les filles et les garçons | Théâtre Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| June 29 | Highway to Hell | Kunstart, Neuchâtel | Switzerland |
| June 30 | Super City Heroes | Centre Culturel Neuchâtelois, Neuchâtel | Switzerland |
| From June 30 to July 3 | X Wohnungen | Festival du Belluard, Fribourg | Switerland |
| From Sept. 23 to Oct. 8 | Swiss + Sexy | Oona Project & Gäste, Gessnerallee, Zurich | Switzerland |
| October 14 | Boniek ! | Fondations Bec Zmania et Laury Palmer, Pro Helvetia Pologne, Varsovie | Poland |
| November 17 | Numéro 10 | Scène nationale du Merlan, Stade Vélodrome, Marseille | France |
2006
| March 18 and 25 | Old Station Heroes | Blickfelder Festival, Zurich | Switzerland |
| April from 17 to 30 | Palo Alto | Théâtre Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| August 8 | Numéro 10 | Festival Paris Quartier d’été, Stade du Parc des Princes, Paris | France |
| August 24 | Hyper and Super | Théâtre Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| September 3 | We are the world | Festival de la Bâtie, Geneva | Switzerland |
| September 26 | Furlan /Numero 23 | Festival EsTerni, Terni | Italy |
| October 28 and 29 | Live me / Love me | Teatro Pan, Lugano | Switzerland |
2005
| April from 7 to 17 | (love story) Superman | Théâtre Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| May 28 | Hyper and Super | Rote Fabrik, Zurich | Switzerland |
| July 20 | Furlan/Numero 23 | Xing, Stadio Dall’Ara, Bologna | Italy |
| August 5 | Surveillances | Résidences express, Pont-Croix | France |
| September from 10 to 11 | Superman Cosmic Green | Festival Champs/Hors Champs, Parc de la Villette, Paris | France |
| October 1 | Unruhe Bitte ! | Gessnerallee, Zurich | Switzerland |
| October 22 | (love story) Superman | Unidram Festival, Potsdam | Germany |
2004
| June 19 | Gran Canyon solitude | Unidram Festival, Potsdam | Germany |
| June 29 | Furlan/Numero 23 | I Teatri della Sport, Arena Gianni Brera, Milano | Italy |
| August 12, 13 and 14 | Girls change places | Festival FAR, Nyon | Switzerland |
| September 11 | International Airport | Festival de la Bâtie, Geneva | Switzerland |
| September 24 and 25 | Me & Myself | Théâtre Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
2000 – 2003
| 2000 | Je rêve / Je tombe | Festival Les Urbaines, Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| 2001 | Live me / Love me | Festival Les Urbaines, Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| 2002 | Furlan/Numero 23 | Festival Les Urbaines, Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
| 2003 | Live me / Love me 2 | Centre Culturel suisse, Paris | France |
| Live me / Love me 3 | Ferme du Buisson, Paris | France | |
| Gran Canyon Solitude | Théâtre Arsenic, Lausanne | Switzerland |
agenda - expositions and installations
He will be represented by the Georges-Philippe and Nathalie Vallois gallery in Paris.
2007
| From Feb. 16 to April 29 | Une question de génération | Exposition, Centre d’art contemporain, Lyon | France |
| From May 13 to June 30 | Accélération | Exposition, Kunstart, Neuchâtel | Switzerland |
| June 29 | Highway to Hell | Performance, Kunstart, Neuchâtel | Switzerland |
| September 22 | Highway to Hell | Performance, Nuit des musées, BCV, Lausanne | Switzerland |
2006
| From May 20 to July 2 | Mémoire et oubli | Exposition, la Villa Bernasconi, Lancy | Switzerland |
| May from 10 to 21 | Off Loop / Loop 06 | Exposition, Rendez-vous 06, Barcelona | Spain |
| From May 31 to July 9 | Geld Schiesst keine Tore! | Exposition, Opelvillen, Rüsselsheim | Germany |
| From June 9 to July 9 | You’ll never walk alone | Exposition, OK Centrum für Gegenwartskunst, Linz | Germany |
| October from 7 to 28 | Massimo Furlan | Exposition, Galerie ESF, Lausanne | Switzerland |
2005
| March from 23 to 25 | Chère anecdote | Exposition, Centre Pompidou, Paris | France |
| From June 7 to Sept. 18 | Burlesques contemporains | Exposition, Jeu de Paume, Paris | France |
| From Oct. 2 to Nov. 27 | Héros à jamais | Exposition, Centre PasquArt, Bienne | Switzerland |
| From Oct. 20 to Jan. 8 | Rundlederwelten | Exposition, Gropius Bau, Berlin | Germany |
| Nov. from 2 to 6 | Moving on up | Performance, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris | France |
2004
| Nov. from 10 to 14 | What are you doing ? | Festival Invideo, Milano | Italy |
| From 25 Nov. 2004 to 23 Oct. 2005 | Father Circle Canyon | Esprit es-tu là? Fondation Claude Verdan, Lausanne | Switzerland |
2003
| Accrochages | Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne | Switzerland | |
| Swiss Art Awards | Art Basel, Bâle | Switzerland |
2002
| Massimo Furlan | Galerie ESF, Lausanne | Switzerland |