Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers : un lieu de recherche
et de production artistiques
ARTISTIC PROJECT 2010
Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers are a tool dedicated to artistic research. They intend to gather the necessary conditions for projects that do not fit pre-existing systems of artistic and cultural production. Their organization and structure, as well as the modalities of residency (such as duration of stay and budget) adapt themselves to the hosted propositions.
These propositions are an opportunity to renew and question known modalities of production, as well as their resulting terms of work and address. They belong to all artistic backgrounds. The objects and forms of research do not necessarily fit the usual practices or disciplines the initiating artists may be distinguished for.
Researches address the audience both through the forms produced and through participations involved in their processes. These participations lead to question the collective dimension of a research, i.e: the nature of shared knowledge and practices, and the way in which this activity organizes itself. These participants are volunteers, and most of them live in or regularly come to Aubervilliers.
Generally, researches are publicized through the Journal des Laboratoires, which exists under three free complementary forms. The paper edition is distributed among a network of European collaborators; each project has its own issue, in addition to a monthly collective publication. The Rendez-vous are occasionally organized at 7.30 pm (5 pm on Sundays) and take different forms: performances, projections, lectures, concerts, meals, etc. The archive includes the website www.leslaboratoires.org, reference books, along with the documentation of previous projects since 2001, available for consultation.
Projects hosted by Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers may involve cultural, social or scientific structures and institutions, either locally, nationally or internationally committed, as well as structures of distribution and co-production.
On specific occasions, Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers regularly exchange with several European structures: artists, activists or curators collectives, magazines, festivals, mostly self-organized art spaces, schools, etc. They have in common to develop alternative approaches to knowledge and practice sharing on a local level, which lead to an ongoing criticism and renewal of what is at stake in artistic research.
Grégory Castéra, Alice Chauchat, Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez
HOW IT WORKS
Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers
is an artistic research and production center.
WHAT CONDITIONS ARE NEEDED TO CREATE ART?
The Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers offer residencies to research projects in all contemporary and international artistic domains: dance, visual arts, theater, cinema, and interdisciplinary projects.
The Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers try to create contexts specific to each project, allowing artists to explore approaches and forms that are excluded from other networks and systems of production.
The Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers provide financial, technical and logistical support to the development of each project and adapts to its unique needs.
The Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers allow artists to work in the format of their choosing (performance, web site, seminar, listening session, speech, film, book...) and sometimes to work in formats they're not accustomed to or hadn't originally planned on.
Projects receiving support from the Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers can also bring in outside partners likely to contribute to the project. These may include cultural, scientific and social institutions, specialists in any domain, or volunteers, especially Aubervilliers residents.
The Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers create exchanges with numerous organizations at the local and international level and strives to cross cultural, social, and geographic boundaries in the art world.
IN WHAT CONDITIONS IS ART RECEIVED?
The Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers consider what relation each project engages with the public in order to bring together the contexts most suitable to its reception and dissemination.
To present its productions to the public, the Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers regularly form partnerships with publishing or distribution outlets that complement the Laboratoires' production and research activities. These include festivals, theaters, public spaces, schools, social centers, institutions, movie theaters and radio stations. The works can also be shown within the Laboratoires when the project requires it.
The Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers' infrastructure allows public participation in the research process, in particular for residents of Aubervillers and Seine Saint-Denis. What form this participation takes is a decision reached with the artist and is based on the project's individual needs and characteristics.
The Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers also works to support the dissemination of projects produced in residence by giving them administrative and logistical support, and by programming works at the invitation of outside institutions and at outside events.
For each Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers production, a special edition of the Journal des Laboratoires is published, making documentation on the project available to audience members - including critical texts, interviews, and work documents.
Yvane Chapuis & Joris Lacoste
THE TEAM
Administration board Xavier Le Roy (president)
Jérôme Delormas
Alain Herzog
Isabelle Launay
Jean-Pierre Rehm
Loïc Touzé
Co-directors Grégory Castéra
Alice Chauchat
Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez
Permanent Team Virginie Bobin (project coordination and publishing ) Géraldine Charmadiras (administrative assistant)
Jean-François Hennion (acouting)
Rebecca Lee (administrative manager) Anne Millet (documentation, communication and press relations) Tanguy Nédelec (technical manager)
Sandra Nomertin (reception and webmastering)
THE PLACE
History
Since 1993, the Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers have occupied 900 m2 of a former light metallurgy factory, in the neighborhood of Villette-Quatre Chemins in Aubervilliers, on the periphery of Paris.
In 1994, responding to an invitation by Jack Ralite, mayor of Aubervilliers, French choreographer François Verret and a group of artists decided to invest this space and turn it into a place of artistic creation and transdisciplinary exchange, actively open onto the town, its history and its inhabitants.
In 2001, François Verret handed over the responsibility of proposing and carrying out a new artistic project to a new team, composed by art critics Yvane Chapuis and François Piron and choreographer Loïc Touzé.
For six years, from 2001 to 2006, the Laboratoires conducted a projet based on research and experimentation following four directions: production,
public opening, training and publishing. (see archives 2001-2006)
With regard to the work done since 2001, Yvane Chapuis and Joris
Lacoste, proposed in 2007 a new project to take further the research and production programme, to reinforce the assistance and reception for the projects in residence and to extend the audience meeting possibilities. (see artistic project )
The spaces
Between 2001 and 2003, important reconstruction work have been undertaken to rehabilitate the building, including the restoration of the building, the application of securitystandards, thermal and soundproof isolation of the premises, improvement of the reception conditions for artists and the public, and the technical installation of the work and performance spaces. The building was divided into three big spaces; their polyvalence fits the artistic diversity of the projects.
SPACE 1
— This space (109 m2) is reserved for reception of the public
during opening periods, and also allows temporary projects, such as
exhibits, public symposiums, performances...
SPACE 2
— This room (110 m2), located under a skylight and equipped
with a removable floor, permits various arrangements, for working periods
as well as for public events.
SPACE 3
— The large room (240 m2), with a board floor, bleachers, and
technical equipment including a studio and seven suspended traveling
decks, allows multiple scenic experimentations. This room, deprived of
natural light, is mostly used for rehearsals and public performances, and
can be rearranged into a dark room for projections. Its polyvalence also
allows the installation of exhibitions.
WORKSHOP — Used for deliveries, stock and construction, this space
can be put at the disposal of the artists.
EDITING ROOM — This computerized room is specially designed
for digital and sound editing.
TWO DRESSING ROOMS–STUDIOS
THE PARTNERS
PARTENAIRES
Les
Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers sont une association régie par
la loi
1901, subventionnée par la Ville d’Aubervilliers, le Départe-
ment de
la Seine Saint-Denis, le Conseil régional d’Île-de-
France, le Ministère
de la Culture et de la Communication (Di-
rection Régionale des Affaires
Culturelles d’Île-de-France)
.
