The question of the construction of identity in a mass production society is at the heart of Elisabeth Bakambamba Tambwe’s plastic and choreographic work. This approach is a form of response to current debates on the issues of national identity, citizenship and integration, as reflection is often paralyzed by the impossibility of thinking outside the logic of mono-belonging and refusal to give to mixed-culture, experience of multi-belonging, a political translation.
The ethnic and geographical classifications, the ethnographic and culturalist approaches that generally enclose the productions of African artists living in Europe constitute ambiguous conditions of visibility and recognition. Between the hammer of the global (globalization and its standards) and that of the local (the withdrawal and the colonial legacy of a falsified vision of “tradition”), Elisabeth Bakambamba Tambwe proposes an ironic deconstruction of the exoticism and attempts a decolonization of the minds.
In the latest shows, the performative mode is predominant and involves voice, music, worked environments, and videoprojection mixed with the calculated occupation of the space dedicated to the public, often invited to move or even divide, forcing the viewer to rethink its function.
With pieces such as Las Meninas (2016) and Congo Na Chanel (2017) the question of the point of view extends the post-colonial question. The last shows of Elisabeth Bakambamba Tambwe tend to show the multiplicity of angles of view which imply different perceptions of the same reality. Because consciousness is like the visual field. This is not a framed image seen by a third external eye, it is captured without distance and, although limited (it is impossible for us to see what is happening behind us), it has no edges: limited and yet without “border”. The various scenographic devices used, then allow to scramble the cards, unmask conventions (especially repressed), caress ambiguities and thus stage the many incoherent postures that assail us.
We perceive only what exists or has the appearance of it, inside and outside us, and we have, it seems, no other sign of reality than the perception we have of it. But are all perceptions equal? (“Jeder hat seine eigene Wahrheit”)
In the work of Elisabeth Bakambamba Tambwe, nothing is ever delivered to us in its totality. The sets, the actions, the presence of the bodies on the plateau always present themselves under a particular face, in a determined perspective. What grips the eye always exceeds our perception since there is always the possibility of other perceptions, corrections. Here, perception cannot exhaust the action. If the perception is incomplete, it is because it is always surrounded by a sort of halo of indeterminacy, the possibility of other probable perceptions or even future ones.
For the choreographer, a point of view does not allow to perceive; it is necessary to know how to shake it according to what is at stake and to others’ point of view. Recognizing the limits, the obscurity, the “incomplete” character of men and of ideas does not imply abandoning them. On the contrary, this conscious doubt, this critical reconsideration, opens the way to a transcendence, a projection of the body forward, commitment.




Performances
CARRÉ NOIR Performance, dance and installation – 01-2020
- A co-production by DIG UP PRODUCTIONS and brut Wien in cooperation with Afro_Vibes Performing Arts Festival Amsterdam.
- With the kind support of the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Vienna Dance Festival.
- With the support of the Federal Chancellery Art and Culture.
ABSTRACTION Performance, dance and installation – 12-2019
- Production DIG-UP Productions
JEANNE DARK Performance, dance and installation – 11-2019
- A co-production of Verein zur Förderung der Bewegungsfreiheit and brut Wien.
- With the kind support of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Vienna.
FOCUS : NEW PERSPECTIVES Performance, dance and installation – 09-2018
- Production DIG-UP Productions
CONGO NA CHANEL Performance, dance and installation – 06-2017
- Production DIG-UP Production
- Co-production Wiener Festwochen
- Thanks to la compagnie de danse La Vème Dimension, Dakar (Senegal)
- Supported by Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien and BKA Bundeskanzleramt Osterreich
MUSA PARADISIACA Performance, dance and installation – 06-2017
- Production DIG-UP Production
PINK EYE Performance, dance and installation – 10-2016
- Commissioned by steirischer herbst
- Project management by Roland Gfrerer
- Technical management by Karl Masten
LAS MENINAS Performance, dance and installation – 05-2016
- Production: Dig Up Productions
- Supported by: MA7 Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien, Bundeskanzleramt Kunst/Kultur
- Co-production: Tanzquartier Wien.
FLECHE Performance, dance and installation – 05-2016
- Co-production: DIG-UP Productions, DONAUFESTIVAL
FIT IN Performance, dance and installation – 07-2015
- Co-production: DIG-UP Productions, Impulstanz, supported by MUMOK MUSEUM
SYMPOSIUM Performance, dance and installation – 01-2015
- Co-production: DIG-UP Productions,Tanzquartier
- Supported by: MA7 VIENNA, BMUKK and LONG LIFE BURNING
GOLDEN BABY Solo – 09-2011
- Co-production: DIG-UP Productions and WUK Theatre
- Supported by: MA7 VIENNA
ANOMALIC Performance and installation – 05-2010
- Co-production: Staatsaffaire et WUK Theatre
- Supported by: MA7 VIENNA
- In collaboration with: Théâtre LE GARAGE Roubaix (France)
DON’T STEP ON MY JERSEY Performance – 01-2010
- Production: MOVING CULTURE VIDC
REACT IN SILENCE,PLEASE Performance, dance and installation – 09-2008
- Project developed within “TURBO RESIDENCE 2008” coached by Thierry Bae
- IMPULSTANZ FESTIVAL 2009.
CONCERTO POUR CORPS BRUYANTS Performance and dance – 11-2007
- Co-production : Cie DIXIT et VIVAT THEATRE ARMENTIÈRE (France)
MON COEUR BALANCE Solo, dance – 05-2005
- Production : Cie DIXIT
- In collaboration with: LA CONDITION PUBLIQUE (Roubaix), LA COMÉDIE DE BETHUNE (Béthune), THEATRE MASSENET (Lille).
FRÉMISSEMENT Performance, dance and music – 09-2003
- Production : Cie DIXIT
LA LÉGENDE DE BAKI Performance, dance and music – 09-2002
- Production : Cie DIXIT
NO ! Performance, dance and music – 09-2001
- Production : Cie DIXIT
PETITES CHOSES DEVIENDRONT GRANDES Performance, dance and music – 09-2000
- Production : Cie DIXIT
Collaborations
PERFUME by Mirabella Paidamwojo Dziruni, Zion Flex and Eric Vale – 2020
NANA OU EST-CE QUE TU CONNAIS LE BARA ? by Monika Gintersdorfer – 2019
TARZAN by God’s Entertainment– 2019
LES NOUVEAUX ARISTOCRATES by Monika Gintersdorfer – 2017
APPROXIMATION LINÉAIRE by Esther Stocker – 2017
FROM THE FUTURE by Esther Stocker – 2016
A THIRD STEP TO IDEAL PARADISE by Claudia Bosse/THEATERCOMBINAT – 2015
100 PAS PRESQUE by Taoufiq Izzediou – 2014
WAR by Amanda Piña and de Daniel Zimmermann – 2013
IN A WORLD FULL OF BUTTERFLIES, IT TAKES BALLS TO BE….. by Robyn Orlin – 2013
BABYSITTING TÊTE DE CIRE by Robyn Orlin – 2012
END OF FEMINISM With Dolce After Ghana in WUK and DONAU FESTIVAL – 04-2012
HAVE YOU HUGGED, KISSED AND RESPECTED YOUR BROWN VENUS TODAY? by Robyn Orlin – 2011
EASY COME, EASY GO by Oleg Soulimenko – 2009
CONFIT DE CANARD by Robyn Orlin – 2007
RADIO OKAPI by Faustin Linyekula – 2006
LAS BAS PEUT-ÊTRE by Graciane Finzi with the “Orchestre Nationale de Montpellier”- 2006
LA NOTTE BIANCA by Katina Genero /Cie Kaïdara – 10-2004
SAFARA, IL FUOCO DEI TAMBURI by Katina Genero /Cie Kaïdara – 10-2004
BOYAKODAH by Georges Momboye – 07-08-09-2004
ET DEMAIN by Serge-Aimé Coulibaly – 11-2003
AQUA VIOLINA by Anne Selliez –02-1999



Ateliers avec présentation publique
LA PHILOSOPHIE BANANE a workshop with the Cie OISEAU-MOUCHE of Roubaix – 05-2012
MARIE ANTOINETTE… C’EST MOI!? a workshop with the association “the Black Security Company” et the support by Schwarze Frauen Community – 06-2011
YOU, MY HERO with SCHULKOLLECTIV Wahringerstrasse Vienna – 12 -2010
J’AI ACCOUCHÉ D’UN NEGRE a workshop with the Cie OISEAU-MOUCHE of Roubaix – 05-2010
MA LUMIÈRE a workshop during the “LE MANIFESTE” festival in Grande-Synthe – 07-2008
Exhibitions
STORIES OF TRAUMATIC PASTS Weltmuseum Wien – 10-2020 to 04-2021
UND SCHWESTER MAKART GEHT AUF WANDERSCHAFT Künstlerhaus 1050 – 12-2019
LA PHILOSOPHIE BANANE Weltmuseum Wien – 03-2014
OCCUPY THE MUSEUM Weltmuseum Wien – 08-2013
GOOSEFLESH Exposition de groupe durant Impulstanz Festival – 07-2012
STILL LIFE VIDC Möllwaldplatz 5/3, 1040 Vienna – 03-2011
THE BARBIE TRAP Soho Ottakring, Vienna – 05-2010
