«We need Space» – Residency by Julie Semoroz and Cédric Gagneur

From 26 November to 14 December 2018, the artists Julie Semoroz and Cédric Gagneur were in Chile for a residency at Los Choros Foundation for Culture, Art, Science and Heritage, developing the project «We need Space». 
 

«We need Space» is a performance that addresses the inner space (temporal and spatial) in daily life. A large area welcomes the audience and the artists, which serves as a ritual preparation and reflection area where audiences leave behind elements of their daily lives and usual temporal space to enter into a different relationship with their body and their perception of time through a composition of sound, light and dance. 

During the residency, the artists had the time to work on organic and mechanical movement and elements of balance and chaos. It was a moment of creation of physical and sound material which only can be found outside the major urban centres, such as the sound of whales, dolphins and dynamites in the ocean, kindly given by Cesar Villaroroel. Right after this residency in Los Choros, the artists started a residency at the Théâtre du Grütli, and worked in the black box for a week, exchanging the material they recorded and built with their collaborators. 

Julie Semoroz’s creations are manifold and cross disciplinary. Since graduating in 2010 with a BA in Visual Arts majoring in Art Action from HEAD – Genève, Geneva School of Art and Design, she has experimented with noise, experimental and ambient sound forms. Her research focuses mainly on vocals and field recordings. In 2017, after dealing with health issues, Julie started questioning her relationship with time and daily practices. «We need Space» was born right after, when she met the dancer and choreographer Cédric Gagneur.