The Lasting Traces of 
une assemblée des gestes

Darius Dolatyari-Dolatdoust,
Jordi Galí, Clara Denidet

The exhibition une assemblée des gestes (épisode 1), curated by Anne-Laure Lestage and choreographer Christian Rizzo, recently closed at the Magasins Généraux in Pantin. During the opening, several performers invited the audience to take part in a collective experiment whose enduring traces constituted the exhibition. In this third and final instalment of our Carte blanche for CN D associate artist Christian Rizzo, artists Clara Denidet, Darius Dolatyari-Dolatdoust, and Jordi Galí share their experiences participating in une assemblée des gestes (épisode 1). 

“Performers invest the space and make it their playground” Darius Dolatyari-Dolatdoust

“The costumes for my work Flags Parade are not ordinary garments… They are very colorful and wrap around almost every inch of the performers’ bodies, revealing only their hands, feet, and faces. The makeup extends their transformation, like a camouflage that shifts these figures toward another identity – at once human, animal, and plant. This tension runs through all of my work, where costume serves as a tool for transforming identity and the body. The performers use space as their playground, moving toward the audience, splitting it apart, or circling around them, momentarily shifting the uses and boundaries of exhibition venues. Through their movements, the performers’ costumes alter our perception of their bodies, as well as the space itself. We have presented this performance in a wide variety of settings, both indoors and outdoors. At the Magasins Généraux, I found it very interesting to see how the audience’s bodies were gently and fluidly engaged within the space throughout the show’s opening.”

“I like how spectators remained present and engaged,” Jordi Galí

“For me, this exhibition challenged labels and compartmentalization, which clearly echoes the collaboration between Anne Laure and Christian. It’s rare for me to be invited to visual arts venues, and this kind of experience enriches my piece in a different way. L’instant n'a que nos gestes is a highly choreographed silent solo, which allows the work to remain in constant dialogue with its performance setting. I created it in 2008, under the title T, for theater stages, before reworking it and performing it in various contexts, notably public spaces and landscapes, with a setup that allows the piece to be viewed from all angles. At the opening, I appreciated how the audience remained engaged even after the performance ended. They were able to take the time to look at the work, approach it in various ways, and move around. They, in turn, became part of the exhibition. This context, which is highly conducive to communal listening, allows for a slight de-dramatization of the work and the artist and revitalizes the spectator’s role. Another step back was to leave this work on display for the entire duration of the exhibition, following the opening performance. I very rarely create works intended to be viewed without bodies, but I find it very exciting to be able to shift the focus away from the bodies and gestures. It opens new possibilities to question how a piece is made and received.”

 “We want this sensory experience to be visible and audible,” Clara Denidet

“My work La part inouïe, is a collaboration with basket weaver and willow growerGabriel Thiney, who I assisted during several willow harvesting and sorting sessions. Wickerwork is a highly sensory experience: physical exertion, auditory impressions, and almost choreographed movements… We wanted to make this visceral experience visible and audible while ishowing something quite raw, something that truly reflects the work itself, something honest. We also wanted to introduce the audience to the rural and agricultural world through this show opening. While the performance led us to a heightened awareness of our gestures – which are usually more automatic – we emphasized their repetition and amplification. This makes them, on the one hand, accessible to the audience and, on the other, it connects them to the theme of serial assembly-line work and how it uses both materials and bodies, which is part of a larger political conversation.”

An interview by Belinda Mathieu.

Belinda Mathieu is a journalist and dance critic who works for several publications, including Télérama, Trois Couleurs and Sceneweb. She holds degrees in French literature (Université Paris-Sorbonne), journalism (ISCPA) and a MA in dance from Université Paris VIII. She is also the editor of CN D Magazine.

Maison-Main, une assemblée des gestes 2
by Christian Rizzo and Anne-Laure Lestage
October 9, 2025, to February 21, 2026, at Crac – Occitanie Region

L’Instant n’a que nos gestes 
Jordi Gali
June 6 to August 19 in France and Hungary 
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Christian Rizzo:  “Choreography Isn’t Just for Choreographers”
by Wilson Le Personnic, CN D Magazine
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Composing Dance
Christian Rizzo
Capsules, CN D Magazine 2022
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Christian Rizzo
Quelque chose suit son cours… A Year of Interviews with Marie-Thérèse Champesme, CN D Publications, 2010
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