Contes Immoraux – Partie 1 : Maison Mère

People build houses but social and political structures as well. In Maison Mère the performance artist Phia Ménard takes a close look at human constructs in a powerful, poetic manner. She appears as a punk version of the patron goddess Athena and will build a Greek temple of cardboard herself. Her version of the famous Parthenon is meant to be a safe space for humankind and shows the foundations of Western society. At the same time, it is reminiscent of the flimsy shelters for the homeless and refugees who, also in Greece, come to Europe in great numbers, unprotected against the elements. With her imposing presence and convincing visual language, Ménard sets into motion a highly associative stream of thoughts on everything that can make or break people without explicitly passing moral judgment.

During her visit to Athens in 2017, the performance artist Phia Ménard realised her position as a passer-by was in stark contrast to the harrowing reality of the many refugees arriving there. She had come there at the invitation of documenta 14. The art exhibition took ‘Learning from Athens / Parliament of Bodies’ as this edition’s theme, inspired by the way increased migration brought to light the failure of modern democratic institutions and a lack of hospitality in Europe.

Athena Ménard presents herself as a modern punk version of the goddess Athena - the city’s patron goddess and goddess of wisdom, science and fine art. She reflects on the role of Greek culture as a model for and protector of democracy in Europe. The Parthenon, which she will build herself, is the ultimate symbol of this: a house to shelter people. At the same time, it is this Greek foundation on which Europe’s current reality is shaking. Ménard’s work is a response to the displaced populations suffering as a result. She sees ‘the sadness of bodies in conflict with themselves, caught between their desire for individual freedom and society’s approval’. Identity, body and matter Ménard knows like no other that the (individual) body can be both personal and political. She began her career in 1995 as a circus artist and developed into a choreographer and performance artist. Since changing gender in 2008, questions about gender and gender identity are at the forefront of her work. Her own identity as a trans-woman plays an important part in her work as well. Not in the least because of the way she presents herself, with her pronounced choice of dress, composure and way of moving. In her work, she always reflects on the interplay between identity, the body and matter. Her visit to Athens made her more self-aware. She felt she was ‘an individual, a comfortably installed artist, a sort of bourgeois, bohemian French woman’. This experience was the foundation for the three-piece Contes Immoraux, of which Maison Mère is the first part.

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dramaturgy, direction Phia Ménard, Jean-Luc Beaujault direction Phia Ménard, Jean-Luc Beaujault scenography Phia Ménard performance Phia Ménard sound design Ivan Roussel sound engineer Ivan Roussel, Mateo Provost stage manager Pierre Blanchet, Rodolphe Thibaud, David Leblanc costumes Fabrice Ilia Leroy technical manager Olivier Gicquiaud associate direction Claire Massonnet production Claire Massonnet administration Claire Massonnet Tzela Christopoulou Clarisse Mérot communication Adrien Poulard executive producer Compagnie Non Nova coproduction documenta 14, Kassel and Le Carré, Scène nationale et Centre d’Art contemporain of Château-Gontier with the support of the Conseil Régional des Pays de la Loire, Savoy, Nantes City Council, Compagnie Non Nova, Conseil Départemental de Loire-Atlantique artist in residency at Malraux scène nationale Chambery, Théâtre National de Bretagne, Centre Européen Théâtral et Choréographique

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