Les gens d'Uterpan

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les gens d’Uterpan (written with a small l letter)  is a choreographic company founded in Paris in 1994, by the artists Annie Vigier (born in 1965 in Gonesse, France), and Franck Apertet (born in 1966 in Ugine, France).

Annie Vigier came to dance through her initial practice as a gymnast; she also studied drama and began her career as a dancer by combining yoga and contemporary dance. Franck Apertet interrupted his studies in literature to follow a training as a dancer which he broadened to theater and opera while working as a fresco artist.

Artistic project

The work of les gens d'Uterpan questions the norms and conventions that govern exhibitions and the live arts. Relying on the mechanisms of adjustment of the individual, the body and creation to these contexts, the artists create a critical work based on the choreographers' initial practice.

In a methodic manner, their reflection takes place through the displacement and recontextualisation of processes of action and monstration that belong to the field of fine and live arts. They include in their work the parameters of approach, communication and archiving as well as the economic dimension and the institutional situation of its production. They process each step that constitutes the practice of an artist and make responsible the visitors, sponsors and institutions in their work.

They have organised their activity around three working principles: the X-Event cycle (made up of physical protocols activated by dancers), the re|action process (made up of strategies that involve the responsibility of all the stakeholders involved in the creation), and the cession /Anthume (which encompasses procedures of transmission and delegation).

Work

Since 2003, as their work has included the plastic and visual arts field, les gens d'Uterpan questions the status of the dancer which they use and objectify as a tool for the choreographer.

Commenting on the introductory work X-Event 1, premiered at the Théâtre l'Échangeur (Bagnolet, France) in January 2005 as part of the Faits d'hiver Parisian festival, dance critic Gérard Mayen wrote in "Corps à rude épreuve", Danser magazine, March 2005:

"Dancers in X-Event 1 perform on a highly constrained stage: a large X formed by two raised catwalks like in a fashion show. Under constant harsh lighting, two boys and three girls perform a series of challenging sequences: running in all four directions, at the risk of colliding violently with each other, flipping unbelievably from lying on the floor, falling backward all the way down without reserve, and so on. Danger looms, exhaustion threatens, in an rush of sensual challenge where a tenacious eroticism emerges, yet the tension remains almost icy. An extreme physical engagement far beyond beautiful dance. Breathless, this hard-hitting piece digs cracks in the current choreographic slump. Not without updating the problematic principle of performers' submission till the end required in this interpretation locked up by choreographers Annie Vigier and Franck Apertet".

Underlining the complex influence of their work in the creative field, independent curator Bijana Ciric writes in Uterpan, Flash Art 2022 edition, p.280:

"While you have participated in some of the most important exhibitions around the world, including documenta, the art system persists in marginalizing your practice and you still have to negotiate your place within the acclaimed values."

les gens d'Uterpan are represented by the Salle Principale gallery in Paris since 2015.

Chronological Steps

1999-2001: Following the creation of immersive show of Chez Gué Gué Louft, les gens d'Uterpan became "associate Artists" of Theater Gérard Philipe in Saint-Denis (directed by Stanislas Nordey).

2005 (February): They create the first dance exhibition by asking the dancers to activate X-Event 2.1 (according to the protocol La vague), continuously throughout the evening of the opening and every day of the following week, during the opening hours of the Contemporary art center of Brétigny-sur-Orge (CAC Brétigny, directed by Pierre Bal-Blanc), weither there are visitors or not.

2007: Invited to take part in the 9th Bienniale of Contemporary Art, les gens d'Uterpan gather a budget from the dance and visual arts sectors that enabled five dancers to activate the seven X-Event 2 protocoles in a square pavilion built for the purpose in La Sucrière during the four months of the event.

2008: They created X-Event 0 at Faits d'hiver festival, ticketed evening where the public and the festival unaware of the fact waited in vain in the entrance hall of the venue, then in the auditorium with its mirrored back wall for the show to begin.

2009: The strategy assis|debout|couché (sit down, stand up, lay down) is the issue they deliver for the choreographic writing grant they obtained from French Ministry of Culture and Communication earlier. When their turn came, without any further comment on their part hand it out to the jury and the audience of the Festival Clandestin organised by the magazine Mouvement who had arrived at Centre National de la Danse (Pantin, France) at the time they had being told to attend assis|debout|couché, a document stipulating that for sixty minute (the time conventionally allotted for the presentation of each prizewinner) everyone is invited to move freely between the performance hall where the renderings take place, one of adjoining rehearsal studios deliberately reserved by les gens d'Uterpan several weeks beforehand, under the CND exhibition space on the ground floor. In each of these spaces the title of the strategy was imposed and activated according to its context (vocal scansion of assis, debout, couché, by Annie Vigier et Franck Apertet from the stage, wall label of assis|debout|couché posted of the wall of the exhibition space, rhythmic and silent activation of the three positions by seven dancers in the rehearsal studio). All the jury's behaviour and commons are seen and heard by the audience.

2010: They create Nocturne démocratie at Festival Fait d'hiver, inviting ten personalities (artists, operators, critics, institutional leaders, etc) from the French international performing arts and visual arts fields to stand on the Festivals' darkened stage in front of a audience also kept in the dark, without anyone knowing who the other invited personalities are (voices technically transformed), to answer direct questions about the issues and tentions that drive the field of art. The identity of these personalities, who arrive and leave individually, hidden under a large piece of black cloth will never be divulged.

2011: Following activations of the strategy Parterre in Paris and Berlin (6th Berlin Bienniale), the support of the institution was withdrawn, the sponsors of the activations were disavowed, and several projects by les gens d'Uterpan were canceled.

2014: Following the creation at the Baltic Art Center in Visby (Gotland, Sweden), the cession of the strategy You are a dancer are broadcast for a year on Radio Aligre (Paris) as part of CAC Brétigny exhibition.

2015: X-Event 2.6 (according to the protocole Le goût) is activated daily through art the 3rd Ural Industrial Bienniale of Contemporary Art (Ekateringburg, Russia).

2017: They take part in documenta 14, in Athens with Avis d’audition, Imposteurs, Géographie-Athènes 2017, Parterre (activated in Brussels) and in Kassel with Scène à l'italienne et Library.

2018: The creation in Brussels of Défilés for the festival Signal #7 with theme of "The joy of disagreement" is blocked by the intervention of law enforcement.

2021: The exhibition Panique au dancing is on show at the Fondation des Artistes - MABA in Nogent-sur-Marne for six months. Questioning the status of the author in the visual art today, Panique au dancing calls into question the presence of dance and the status of performance art in museums and exhibitions.

2022: Uterpan, the monograph by les gens d'Uterpan is published by Flash Art. With contributions from Pierre Bal-Blanc (independent international curator and essayist), Biljana Ciric (indepedent international curator), Luk Lambrecht (independent international curator), Karin Mihatsch (publication manager and teacher) and Dieter Roelstraete (idependent international curator and teacher), it compiles all the works created by les gens d'Uterpan between 1994 and 2021.

Exhibitions selection

les gens d'Uterpan's choreographic projects has developed mainly in the plastic and visual arts through various exhibitions:

• 2003: Home Clubbing, Phalanstère (cur. Pierre  Bal-Blanc), CAC Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, France
• 2005: X-Event 2.1 (according to the  protocole La vague), CAC Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, France (solo show)
• 2007: X-Event 2.1 (according to the protocol La vague), X-Event 2.2 (according to the protocol Les corps morts), X-Event 2.3 (according to the protocol Les chutes), X-Event 2.4 (according to the protocol Les courses), X-Event 2.5 (according to the protocol Les Kama Sutra), X-Event 2.6 (according to the protocol Le goût), X-Event 2.7 (according to the protocol Salives), 9th Lyon Bienniale of Contemporary Art, France
• 2008: X-Event 2.4 (according to the protocol Les courses), X-Event 2.5 (according to the protocol Les Kama Sutra), X-Event 2.6 (according to the protocol Le goût), X-Event 2.7 (according to the protocol Salives), The Living Currency (cur. Pierre Bal-Blanc), Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
• X-Event 1, 5th Berlin Bienniale (cur. Adam Szymczyk, Elena Filipovic), KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Germany
• X-Event 2.1 (according to the protocol  La vague), X-Event 2.4 (according to the protocol Les courses), X-Event 2.5 (according to the protocol Les Kama Sutra), X-Event 2.6 (according to the protocol Le goût), X-Event 2.7 (according to the protocol Salives), We dance around in circles (cur. Cys Bierinckx), Beursschouwburg, Brussels, Belgium
• 2009: X-Event 2.4 (according to the protocol Les courses), X-Event 2.6 (according to the protocol Le goût), X-Event 2.7 (according to the protocol Salives), Warsaw Museum of Modern Art (cur. Ana Janevski), Poland (solo show)
• 2010: Parterre, The Living Currency (cur. Pierre Bal-Blanc and Kathrin Rhomberg), 6th Bienniale of Berlin, Germany
• 2011: Présence, WhiteBox (dir. Juan Puntès), New York, United-States (solo show)
• Absence, l’Escort (cur. Pierre Bal-Blanc), CAC Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, France
• Absence (wall label), Kunsthalle Basl (dir. Adam Szymczyk), Switzerland
• 2012: X-Event 2.6 (according to the protocol Le goût), Copenhagen Art Festival (cur. Christian Skovbjerg Jersen), Overgaden Institut for Samtidskunst, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Kunstforeningen Gl . Strand, Den Frie Udstilling, HØJBRO PLADS, Denmark
• Géographie-Vilnius 2012, CAC Vilnius (dir. Kestutis Kuizinas), Lithuania (solo show)
• 2013: Géographie-Lyon 2013, La matière grise (Daniel Firman), Lyon Museum of Contemporary Art, France
• Géographie-Bolzano 2013, Soleil Politique (cur. Pierre Bal-Blanc), Museion, Festival transart13, Bolzano, Italy
• 2014: Scène à l’italienne, Salle Principale, Paris, France (solo show)
• Pièce en 7 morceaux, Open Museum Open City (cur. Hou Hanru), MAXXI  Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy
• les gens d'Uterpan (cur. Lana Sokolova), Yarat! Contemporary Art Space, Baku, Azerbaijan (solo show)
• Imposteurs, activation of copy n°3 from CNAP, Des choses en moins, des choses en plus (cur. Agnès Violeau, Sébastien Faucon), Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
• 2015: X-Event 2.6 (according to the protocol Le goût) 3rd Ural Industrial Bienniale of Contemporary Art (cur. Biljana Ciric), Ekaterinburg, Russia
• Imposteurs, MER. Station 17: A New Spirit in Booking (cur. Luc Derycke), Museumcultuur Strombeek/Gent, Cultuurcentrum Strombeek, Belgium
• Uchronie, Problèmes de type grec (cur. Émilie Renard), La Galerie, centre d’art contemporain de Noisy-Le-Sec, France
• Méditation, D’une main invisible, Salle Principale, Paris, France
• Archives: Topologie Tainan 2014 "Maintaining _ Body" Movement Topology & Tracks in the City (cur. Wendy, Wen-chun Lo), Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
• 2016: Stimulation, Proposal to Surrender (cur. Biljana Ciric), Ming Contemporary Art Museum, Shanghai, China
• Anthropométrie and Absence (wall label), Encounters with Pompidou (cur. Biljana Ciric), Museum on/off, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
• Production, Légende (cur. Laurent Buffet), Fonds régional d’art contemporain de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
• Uchronie, Salle Principale, Paris, France (solo show)
• 2017: Avis d’audition, Géographie-Athènes 2017, Imposteurs (activation of copy n°7 of Greek national collection) and Parterre, documenta 14 (cur. Adam Szymczyk, Pierre Bal-Blanc), Athens, Greece
• Scène à l'italienne and Library, documenta 14 (cur. Adam Szymczyk, Pierre Bal-Blanc), Kassel, Germany
• Dancers from abroad, When the Other meets the Other Other (cur. Biljana Ciric), Kulturni  centar Beograda, Beograd, Serbia
• Imposteurs, activation of copy n°5 from private collection, first development, Learning from documenta (cur. Luk Lambrecht), Cc Strombeek, Kusseneers Gallery, Brass'art, Brussels, Belgium
• Génuflexions, Salle Principale, Paris, France (solo show)
• Imposteurs (cur. Bernhard Cella), Salon für Kunstbuch – Lufbadgasse, Vienna, Austria
• Topologie, Orientation, Salle Principale, Paris, France
• 2018: Génuflexions, Mystic Properties (cur. Elena Sorokina), Art Brussels  2018, Hôtel de la Poste, Brussels, Belgium
• Audience (photo), Ce qui nous tient, ce à quoi nous tenons (cur. Mickaël Roy), Le Granit - Scène nationale, Belfort, France
• Pièce en 7 morceaux, Subversão da Forma (cur. Bernardo de Souza), Fundação Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brasil
• 2019: Anthropométrie, ART CITY Bologna (cur. Sabrina Samori), Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau, MaMbo - Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, Italy
• sound archive of the stratégy Nocturne Démocratie (2010), Commencer par la fin (cur. Julien Duc Mauger), Synesthésie – MMAINTENANT, Zone sensible - Parti Poétique, Ferme Urbaine of Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis, France
• Géographie-Cincinnati 2019, Confinement: Politics of Space and Bodies, (cur. Valentine Umansky), Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, United States
• Archives Topologie Gdansk 2014 - Archive, vol. 1. Local Context (cur. Agnieszka Kulazińska, Aleksandra Księżopolska), Center for Contemporary Art of Laznia, Gdansk, Poland
• Audience (photo), Occupations, Salle Principale, Paris, France
• 2020: Safety instructions and Anthropométrie, The Time of Work (cur Pieter T’Jonck), Z33 - Huis voor Actuele Kunst, Design & Architectuur, Hasselt, Belgique
• You are a dancer (creation of the session Podcast), Centre Wallonie Bruxelles/Radio Fractale, Paris, France
• You are a dancer, Salon Art-o-rama /Radio Grenouille, Marseille, France
• 2021: Méditation (identity sheet and photo), L’usage des richesses, Salle Principale, Paris, France
• Panique au dancing, Fondation des Artistes – MABA in Nogent-sur-Marne, France (solo show)
• 2022: Video, Ligne de fuite, Salle Principale, Paris, France
• Contact improvisation, NOT IN MY NAME, CCA: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
• Fantôme, Belleville Weekend, Salle Principale, Paris, France
• 2023: Audience (photo), Group show (d’après Koyaanisqatsi), Salle principale, Paris, France

Residences

• 2009-2014: CAC Brétigny, Brétigny-sur-Orge, France
• 2011: IASPIS, Stockholm, Sweden
• 2012: BAC-Baltic Art Center, Visby, Sweden
• 2013: BAR International artist-in-residency program Pikene på Broen, Kirkenes, Norway
• 2014-2015: Micadanses, Paris, France
• 2018: Lasalle College of the Arts, Singapour
• 2020-2022: Fondation des Artistes - MABA in Nogent-sur-Marne, France

Bibliography

• Imposteurs, edited by CAC Brétigny and Pierre Bal-Blanc, 2013 (ISBN 978-2-912692-18-4)
• Uchronia, edited by les gens d'Uterpan and Emanuele Quinz, co-editor IDEFI-CréaTIC and University Paris 8, Sternberg Press, 2017, (ISBN 978-3-95679-265-6)
• Project Phalanstène, Pierre Bal-Blanc, publication Sternberg Press, CAC Brétigny, Work Method, 2017 (ISBN 978-3-956793-19-6)
• Uterpan, a monograph (1994-2021) of les gens d’Uterpan, published by Flash Art (2022), France distribution by Les presses du réel (ISBN 978-2-9579959-0-57)

External links

• Official website

Press

• Curatorial Gaze, by Pierre Bal-Blanc, 2020-2021, Flash Art
• The Politization of Anatomy by Pierre Bal-Blanc, Mousse 58, april-may 2017 Mousse Magazine
• Press review, les gens d'Uterpan, documenta 14

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