Corpus Delicti, Contemporary Art in the Brussels Law Courts: 25/09/2008 > 21/11/2008
Brussels Law Courts
Poelaertplein 1 – 1000 Brussels
25 September to 21 November 2008
Open from Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm
Admission free
E-mail: info(arrobe)co-de.org
Tel.: +32 (0)2 519 86 77
Fax: +32 (0)2 519 81 44
Photography by: Bo Bex & Jean-Marc Henry
Design & Website by: Typi Design
Evening visits
- Opening evening: Friday 26 September 2008
- 125th anniversary of the Law Courts: Wednesday 15 October 2008
- Closing evening: Thursday 20 November 2008
Booking is possible on our Booking page or at www.ticketnet.be
Theatre performances
Apart from the exhibition of the visual arts, the performing arts offer a possibility to directly explore the « theatre of crime » and to experience in real time situations taken from the everyday lives of people who come into contact with the law. We have sought out human relationships, particularly the everyday relationships of men and women which result in a clash with the law. We invited the director Bernard Mouffe to give concrete form to this approach and to put forward ideas for a relevant theatre performance.
1. In collaboration with the Vlaams Theater Instituut
François Beukelaers presents:
"Tand om tand"
Text of Hugo Claus
Director: François Beukelaers
With: François Beukelaers
2. Bernard Mouffe presents:
"Fin de partie"
Text of Samuel Beckett
Director: Bernard Mouffe
Actors: The actors all have a legal background and have already performed eight plays in the Law Courts, including The « Trial of Oscar Wilde », « The Trial of Landru », « The Trial of Mata Hari », « The Trial of Kafka », Shakespeare’s « Richard III » and Anouilh’s « Antigone ».
The play:
Following on from two monologues, Endgame represents the « real linchpin » of the family, which two-sidedly stages the most fundamental conflict situation: the question of descent and lineage, whether through biology or « by subjection »: the child is the Corpus Delicti... the confirmation of what nature always recalls: « small children eat porridge, older children gnaw at their parents’ hearts ». Abandonment or murder, is there any other alternative?
4. The only « dramaturgical »
approach taken consists in broaching the « natural and historical » originality of the play on Belgian soil: in this case two French-speaking actors play opposite two Dutch-speaking actors.
To this line of approach is added a choice of stage set that is directly related to the building and is based on an obvious contextual update. Beckett’s oeuvre is like a « theatre of justice », a « minimal theatre that limits itself to the essence and is reduced to the activity of a mouth that emits sound ».
The clothing worn by the characters in the play suggests they may be older or younger magistrates or lawyers with strips of black, yellow and red ermine that give a more Belgian touch to the classical colours of their gowns and headgear.
5. Procedure:
The performance will be held one of the courtrooms in the Law Courts: the small reception room of the Court of Appeal.
The bilingual performance by the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking actors throughout the play is a new and highly enriching experience.
Music and dance
Sound signalling:
During the evening performances, musicians will walk around the exhibition route with wind and stringed instruments and play both jazz and classical music, discovering, « just » playing, in dialogue with the works exhibited along the route; the result will be the creation of a rich variation of sound in the building which is intended to sweep the public along the exhibition route.
The sounds will be the creation of both classical and jazz musicians headed by the group « Champ d’action » and its artistic director Serge Verstockt. The group is made up of Dutch- and French-speaking musicians. www.champdaction.be
Commentaries
During the evening visits the theatre performances take up only two 50 minute periods. Apart from the dance performance in the entrance hall at the end of the evening they will also be held outside the reception areas of the large entrance hall and on the first floor of the building.
The theatre pieces will be performed on the large monumental staircase which has been transformed into a type of classical stage, and in the large formal hall of the Court of Appeal.
In their turn the musicians of Champ d’action will guide the public along the exhibition route with music that enters into dialogue with the works exhibited.
Procedure for evening visits
A theatre and dance performance all on one evening may seem to be too much of a good thing, particularly as the theatre pieces are performed simultaneously and twice on the same evening. However, in the context of the special setting we have devised for these evenings, this is not the case.
The various performances do not require any special infrastructure. Like the works of art on show, they are located without any trappings in the architecture of the building itself; nothing is hung up and there is no screen or stage. The only stages are the floors and staircases.
Catering
Each evening there will be catering in the form of drinks and snacks. Guests will be asked to pay a small sum for the performances and exhibitions on the evening visits.
Apart from a few special invitations, the evening visits are open to the general public. However, for organisational reasons it is customary to book.
Booking is possible on our Evening's booking page or at www.ticketnet.be