Habiter Latifa Laâbissi

dance solos at residents' homes, films, film screenings at residents' homes, “I Hear Voices,” an installation at La Criée Contemporary Art Center

Latifa Laâbissi, a choreographer, presents a solo performance in an everyday setting—or, more precisely, in the homes of city residents. She has established a protocol. After scouting locations and wandering through the city, she places a classified ad in local newspapers and on bulletin boards set up for this purpose in a few stores:
“A choreographer is looking for a resident who would be willing to host a dance project in their home. The opportunity is free and requires two hours of your time. For more information, please call 06 .. .. .. ..”

Following an initial phone conversation, during which she describes her intention and approach, Latifa Laâbissi visits the host of her dance performance. After a discussion and a tour of the home, she determines the space where the solo will take place (the dining room, a hallway, the kitchen, etc.). During this time, she observes the way her host opens up his private space—his “home,” his “personal space”—to a stranger and makes room to welcome him. Without altering the layout in any way, she lingers in this space, making it her own. She leaves it up to her host to decide whether or not to witness the unfolding of her proposal.

Latifa Laâbissi is joined by Sophie Laly, a videographer, and Jocelyn Cottencin, an artist and graphic designer. The films and photographs created will serve as the basis for the next phase of the project: film screenings at the homes of some of the residents, where everyone will watch them together—that is, a gathering of the artistic team, the residents, and their guests, a shared experience followed by a discussion about the project. The framing consists of a static shot of a space and its objects, into which the choreographer enters to perform a ten-minute solo. Once she has finished, she disappears off-screen.

Dancing in someone’s home, filming that dance, and entering another person’s space gives rise to a variety of behaviors. From the sharing of intimacy to a sense of intrusion to astonishment, the choreographer encounters the other person and the way they organize their living space. Her movements, which disrupt the everyday routines of these spaces, and her status as an outsider, inspire her hosts to share unique stories in which each person reinvents themselves, blending these narratives with their own ideas about dance. This invitation can cause moments of shock and silence. The host witnesses this new use of their own space and the shifting of its usual functions; different layers of their reality intertwine: evocations, projections, fictions, and memories.

For Habiter à Rennes, Latifa Laâbissi invites set designer and visual artist Nadia Lauro to design a space for La Criée, titled I Hear Voices, which will become a space for fiction—a space for the audience to inhabit. Latifa Laâbissi is also developing this project in collaboration with architects and theorists.

 I Hear Voices is a sort of furry landscape with a soundscape, designed to be experienced throughout the duration of the exhibition. It is an immersive space—somewhere between a “mental garden” and a “warm-up room for the public”—that has been specifically staged to generate new ways of seeing and being together.