RIM – (Re)discovering (Inter)actions we Love
Photo: David Brandstätter
RIM started in 2019 as the "Rencontres Internationales de Mai" and soon found its second meaning: (Re)discovering (Inter)actions we Love. As associate artists of Le Phare, CCN du Havre Normandie, Malgven Gerbes and David Brandstätter invited choreographers, dancers, visual artists, playwrights, directors and architects to spend an immersive week in a chosen part of Le Havre, sharing practices, thoughts and proposals in public space.
Each edition began with the same questions: what is public space today? Where can the body inspire or surprise? What are the social dynamics of this place, and what kind of city emerges from it? And each context found its own charm. The first edition brought us back to performing in public space ourselves, learning from collaborators with more experience in that field. In 2020, the health rules closed the theatres. Instead of giving up, we went looking for the cracks in that wall: we mirrored the floor plan of Le Phare onto the empty land across the street and worked in an open-air Phare, sharing our practices with passers-by, colleagues and curious neighbours. Drawn on the ground in front of it, the plan seemed to make the building itself transparent – and we felt the idea really worked. In Parc Albert René, we danced among children learning traffic rules on their bicycles and the police officers guiding them.
Later editions took us to the Halle aux poissons and the Danton and Perrey districts, often in partnership with GENIUS, a project by the architects and landscape architects of Les Gens des Lieux that devotes a whole year to one place in the city, with a temporary architecture, a garden design and a programme around it. The RIM also inspired HansaHood in Berlin.
Most editions were documented in a film by Laure Delamotte-Legrand.
The video is loaded from Vimeo when you click play.
The editions, 2019–2023
RIM #1 May 2019, across Le Havre
21–25 May 2019, across Le Havre
For this first edition of the RIM – Rencontres Internationales de Mai – Malgven Gerbes & David Brandstätter, associate artists of Le Phare from 2019 to 2021, brought together a team of dancers, choreographers and visual artists from France, Germany and Mexico to question, inspire one another and take action around issues such as:
What is public space today? In what context can the body inspire or surprise? What are the social dynamics in Le Havre? What urban identity emerges from the city of Le Havre?
This collaborative work brought together eight artists, deeply engaged in choreographic research and the exploration of public space. On Tuesday 21, Wednesday 22, Thursday 23 and Friday 24 May, curious onlookers and passers-by were invited to join us at 18:30 and share in a surprise performance moment in public space. The essence of these experiences was revealed during a festive evening on Saturday 25 May at Le Phare.
Project Malgven Gerbes, David Brandstätter / shifts – art in movement, in association with Le Phare, CCN du Havre Normandie
Artistic collaboration Katell Hartereau & Léonard Rainis / Le Pôle; Diana Bayardo & Gervasio Cetto / mákinadT movement and scene; Laure Delamotte-Legrand, urban planning and videography; Malgven Gerbes & David Brandstätter / shifts – art in movement; Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh, choreographer and director of Le Phare, CCN du Havre Normandie
With the support of DRAC Normandie / French Ministry of Culture; Région Normandie; Ministry of Culture and the Arts of Yucatán, Mexico; Alternative Network for the Performing Arts of Yucatán
RIM #2 June 2020, opposite Le Phare
June 2020, on the fallow land opposite Le Phare, Le Havre
It was June. We had been planning the RIM for a long time: a week of working in movement, on site, together in Le Havre. Then came the health rules for reopening cultural venues, necessary but hardly compatible with a project built on encounter. We stood in front of a wall and wondered whether it had cracks: small openings where something could still happen between people.
So we went looking for them. With the support of Le Phare, the city and the Le Havre metropolitan area, and the help of the architects, landscape architects and urban planners of Les Gens des Lieux, we copied the floor plan of Le Phare, mirrored, onto the empty land across the street. In this open-air Phare we shared our choreographic practices and tested them against the moment we were living through. Passers-by, colleagues, friends and curious neighbours dropped in all week. From person to person, we rediscovered what it is that makes a dance, an artistic act.
Tractors performed. Babies danced. Film directors happened to walk past. Families came closer, came back, grew attached to the place. And then, with the outdoor Phare looking across at the indoor one, our visitors and we ourselves wanted to go inside: to claim, even for five minutes, the empty lit stage, which had become a protective cocoon and an amplifier of the senses. That week it hosted hidden, surprising, improbable choreographies.
Again and again, spectators and performers traded places, sometimes to their own surprise. One passer-by, caught up in the game, became a performer for the length of a visit, and came back some time later to make sure it hadn't been a dream. A detour, a pocket of suspended time, and new openings for everyone.
A project coordinated by shifts – art in movement, in collaboration with the team of Le Phare, CCN du Havre Normandie, and the participating artists.
Artistic collaboration Laure Delamotte-Legrand, Uwe Gössel, Malgven Gerbes and David Brandstätter, Adrienne Goehler, Katell Hartereau and Léonard Rainis, Max Sautai, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh and the collective Les Gens des Lieux
With the support of DRAC Normandie / French Ministry of Culture; Région Normandie; Département de l'Eure
RIM #3 June 2021, Parc Albert René
22–27 June 2021, Parc Albert René, Le Havre
In 2021 the RIM, in complicity with the GENIUS project, took over Place Albert René in Le Havre, for a convergence of knowledge and experiences between June and October.
During RIM #3 we immersed ourselves in the ecosystem and life of Parc Albert René and, due to weather conditions, also in the frozen architecture of the former pawn shop "Crédit Municipal". We met the daily users of the square and its surroundings, and got into dialogue with children discovering the traffic regulations on bicycles.
Artistic direction Malgven Gerbes & David Brandstätter
Project & coordination Laure Delamotte-Legrand, Malgven Gerbes & David Brandstätter, Uwe Gössel, Thiago Granato, Katell Hartereau & Léonard Rainis, Dorothée Navarre Vatinel, Max Sautai, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh
Creative dialogue Adrienne Goehler, HeHe duet, the collective Les Gens des Lieux
A shifts – art in movement project, in collaboration with the team of Le Phare, CCN du Havre Normandie, within the associated artist programme 2019–2021.
Our thanks to the City of Le Havre, the Police Nationale, the green spaces service, the sub-prefecture of Le Havre and the primary schools participating in the cycling circuit
With the support of DRAC Normandie / French Ministry of Culture; Région Normandie
RIM #4 October 2022, La Halle aux poissons
15–16 October 2022, La Halle aux poissons, Le Havre
For this fourth edition we explored, together with GENIUS, the emblematic Halle aux poissons in Le Havre, cultivating its ecosystem together and in movement, in immersion with passers-by and visitors: a weekend of movement happenings, screenings of the films of RIM #1, #2 and #3, the GENIUS exhibition, concerts and more, open to everyone.
RIM #5 May and October 2023, Danton and Perrey districts
15–20 May 2023, Danton district, Le Havre
Over one week of cultural exchange, choreographic and urbanistic collaboration and embracement of social dynamics, the RIM guests and performers explored the Danton district in relation to its passers-by, users and inhabitants, practising in public on Place Danton.
14 October 2023, Perrey district, Le Havre
A live choreographic proposal in the Perrey district, together with the young dancers of the H2O project.
May 2023: A shifts project, artistic direction Malgven Gerbes and David Brandstätter, in artistic and visual collaboration with Katell Hartereau & Léonard Rainis, Lyllie Rouvière, Laure Delamotte-Legrand, Max Sautai
With the support of DRAC Normandie / French Ministry of Culture; Région Normandie
October 2023: Choreographers Malgven Gerbes & David Brandstätter / shifts – art in movement
Artistic collaboration and performance H2O project – Lisa Sahores, Shenxi Song, Shen Xiny & co
With the support of DRAC Normandie / French Ministry of Culture; Région Normandie; Ville du Havre
Thanks to Alcéane
Team & credits
Artistic direction Malgven Gerbes & David Brandstätter / shifts – art in movement
With the support of DRAC Normandie / French Ministry of Culture; Région Normandie
The team of each edition is credited in its own fold-out above.
