Anne Lise Le Gac – La Caresse du Coma

In the frame of the Creative Crossroad activity, Anne-Lise Le Gac was selected by Veem House for Performance to receive a 2 years structural support by the LLB network to work on her latest production "Ductus Midi" and "La Caresse du Coma ft. YOLO".

This support includes a co-production by Veem House and ICI-CCN, a residency by Workshop Foundation Hungary, a residency by brain store project and a performance presentation at Veem House.

Remote residency with brain store project

The artistic residency of Anne Lise Le Gac was planned to be in October 2020 in Sofia. Due to the Covid-19 she could not travel to Sofia, which necessitated a very quick reorganization of the entire plan. After several online meetings with the Anne, we made the general decision to realize the residence as remote residency.

During the romote artistic residency Anne Lise Le Gac worked on the 4th featuring,   which deals with the question “Where is the Duende?”.

“I stay in a four-star hotel-spa in the Croatian outback among a gathering of people seeking true happiness. Within the group, each of us have a status: because I am a newbie, I automatically become DOG, and I have a number 23, because I am the 23rd DOG. We don’t know each other and share advices, beliefs and practices. We nevertheless believe that we live in an INFINITELY LIVING WORLD.Yes, that means life towards infinity.” – shares Anne Lise Le Gac about her performance project La Caresse du Coma. It develops into featurings, which, according to Anne Lise, “are not like process steps but more like chapters of a novel.” 

Anne Lise Le Gac lives in Marseille (France). She is a contemporary artist with a taste for cultural management. Since 2015, she has been co-organising the performance festival OKAY CONFIANCE, which takes place in different cities around France. She has created the solo piece La Caresse du Coma and the collaborative performance project, GRAND MAL, with Élie Ortis. In May 2019 her latest performance project DUCTUS MIDI, created together with the artist and musician Arthur Chambry, had its premiere during Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels. 

The remote residency was hold within Without Distance Platform, part of Antistatic Festival.

View her experience report in the upper right column.

Project description "La Caresse du Coma ft. YOLO"

La Caresse du Coma consists of multiple chapters, smoothly drifting from one to the other. In each chapter, Anne Lise Le Gac adjusts her subject, constantly attempting to bastardise reality to let fiction ooze in. This relation to fiction is born from a desire to redefine our relationship with the other — whether it be human, digital, animal, or vegetal.

All chapters are situated in a Croatian spa, where currently a Happiness gathering is taking place:

“I have been staying in a four-star hotel-spa in the heart of Croatia for about forty days now, during a gathering of people who are in search of Happiness, convinced that they live in an INFINITE LIVING WORLD.

Within the group, they each have a transitory status: as I am new, I am automatically a DOG, “a loving machine”, and my number is 23.

In the beginning, DOG (23) didn’t know anyone, soon COACH, PIRATE and ANGE 92Kcal shared their advice, beliefs and practices. DOG (23) soon meets LIQUID VIRGIN, the spectral figure of the Happiness Movement. LIQUID’s presence is manifested by a breath called YOLO, a kind of primordial atmosphere; a passing contact between DOG (23) and YOLO will leave DOG (23) with no choice but to inhale deeply and spit.’’

Chapters La Caresse du Coma
The chapters/features are presented separately, because a feature lasts between 50 minutes and an hour. Each feature is a meeting between a DOG (23) and another bastard species met in the Croatian spa.

Chapter 1: La Caresse du Coma ft. COACH
Chapter 2: La Caresse du Coma ft. PIRATE
Chapter 3: La Caresse du Coma ft. ANGE 92 Kcal
Chapter 4: La Caresse du Coma ft. YOLO

Project description "Ductus Midi":

What’s this painting ? It’s not a painting, it is a map. And you will find your way inside. A memory palace takes place, and we often meet there. Among other things, we grow oblivion. This palace does not have any address, it is closer to campfire than pyramid. It can light up more or less everywhere. We made it a purée, a yoghurt-song, a fountain, a boogie, a false memory, a blackbird, a speaking map. You can touch the surface where our rides intertwine. In our hands, the matter is soft. On a terrain with hazily edges, we begin a trip without resolution.