LATE HOURS 03 BASQUIAT x WARHOL

GALLERIES 2, 4, 9 AND 10 LEVELS -1, 0 AND 2

ESCALATORS LEVELS -1, 0 AND 1

A dancer for 10 years already, on stage or in battle, inspired by films and martial arts, he proposes a style that draws on hip-hop technique and contemporary dance. On Instagram, he demonstrates well-honed talent in short, energetic choreographies. He turns the Fondation into a playground. And a dance floor.

“This La Belle Vie project is an outlet: I needed to physically express a deep loneliness. Although we are surrounded by people who love us, there is always this dimension, this place deep in our being where we feel alone, sometimes misunderstood, wandering in a golden desert, ‘isolated,’ by turns nostalgic, happy, worried or optimistic.”

GALLERY 2 - LEVEL -1

Franco-Sri Lankan artist Tamara Fernando trained at the Avignon Conservatoire de Danse and at the Studio Pygmalion drama school and has collaborated with the Ballet National de Marseille, the Ballet de Bâle and Blanca Li. Tamara founded her company La Mamma in early 2021.

Matthew Totaro, hailing from Naples, is a self-taught performer, acrobat, dancer. He asserts a style all his own, blending contemporary dance, acrobatics, breakdancing and more. He joined the La Mamma troupe at its founding.

Theirs is a visceral body-to-body duo, playing on the verticality of choreographic movement. A bit like the pieces of the Tetris video game, Tamara and Matthew develop an expression that captures emotion as closely as possible. A work of four hands and four legs

GALLERY 4 LEVEL 0

Roméo Bron Bi, an Ivorian choreographer based in Strasbourg since 2013, brought together Anicet Zehoua Bi Tra, a professional Ivorian dancer, and James Collins, a Nigerian amateur urban dancer, to collectively revive the artistic dialogue between Basquiat and Warhol. Though they are from diverse artistic worlds, they share Afropeanism, an art of living on the border and dancing “in the echo of the cultures that inhabit them: African, American, European, African-American and Caribbean.”

Driven by the same commitment that Basquiat had to giving the black figure an existence in the public space and on the art scene, their choreography was inspired by works such as Taxi 45th/Broadway and Ten Punching Bags, in which they were able to feel or recognise situations and emotions experienced in their own existence, migration path and career as a black dancer in Europe. Their performance takes place in front of the African Masks work, a reflection of the zaouli, both a mask and a dance of the Gouro people in Côte d’Ivoire.

GALLERY 4 - LEVEL 0

No less than a breakdance champion! Mounir Amhiln manages to blend the energy of breaking with a fluid, almost cinematic presence, bringing the eclecticism of a unique genre, breakdance, into the Galleries.

“L’Appel du Sol (The Call of the Floor) pays tribute to artists who once answered a call that changed the course of their lives. I personally was called by a culture, a lifestyle, a floor: that of hip-hop and breaking. Like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, the founders of breaking created a unique language that continues to evolve through – and due to – our passion for it.”

GALLERY 9 LEVEL 2

“Plus Qu’un Carnet de Moves (“More than a Book of Moves”) was originally research on the breaking aesthetic expressed through photography and a lexicon. I delved into the archives of the movement starting with the first dances born of hip-hop culture to create a performance that combines dance and words and recounts aspects of hip-hop moves, focusing especially on the decade 1975-85.”

Photographer and dancer Timothée Jolivet, often seen in hip-hop events and in performances by the Black Sheep dance company, created a free-form work, in a duet with dancer Chris Fargeot, for the Call to Dance. His singular style borrows equally from the virtuosity of urban dance and the creativity of contemporary dance.

GALLERY 10 LEVEL 2

Two creator-performers, two shared sensitivities. After studying biology, Mellina Boubetra began devoting her energy to dance in late 2015. She established her reputation working with dancers and choreographers John Degois and Andrew Skeels before heading up her own projects combining hip-hop and contemporary, always with an unmistakeable musicality. After learning b-boying basics, Evan Greenaway began dancing with Johanna Faye, Saïdo Lehlouh and the Naïf collective. He founded his company, Diving Leaf, in 2019. They dreamed of being on stage and the Call to Dance brings them together at last.

“A bend, bounces and four hands.

Bodies that follow each other, that live,

that love each other

that fall, fly, thrill and fight.

Bend to the rules of the other’s body

Adjusting, but without force, without impact

Except that of two hearts against one another

Two bodies seeking a common measure

in hopes of stopping together. That would be beautiful.

As beautiful as hearts can be.”

GALLERY 10 LEVEL 2

Sarah Fronteau, aka Shisha, has been a French dancehall pioneer for 17 years. She not only won France’s first dancehall competition, she was also European champion and international vice champion of the competition held in Jamaica. Sarah is an impassioned virtuoso, bringing dancehall energy to a new level. For this Call to Dance, she finds resonance with both Basquiat’s rebellious spirit and Warhol’s pop glamor.

“I want to share my world, my style, my creativity, to bring back some pep and sunshine. Let’s go!”

WEST TERRACE

Astan, a Franco-Malian DJ and selecta, is most in her element with rap and its sprawling extensions. She best demonstrates her instincts in the world of black music, from soul to spiritual to futuristic afro beat. As a member of the “Beyond the Club” collective, she believes that the dancefloor is a political space central to social transformation. Her set explores the musical world of Jean-Michel Basquiat, bebop/jazz and black music, playing expertly with the topicality of these soul, jazz and RnB sounds. Hip-hop has a central role, as do the Caribbean musical genres and aesthetics woven throughout her sonic works, tracing the path of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the struggles he faced and overcame.

The nickname of this Franco-Moroccan DJ means “moonlight” in Rifain, the region of Morocco that Taziri calls home. She plays a selection of eclectic artists between UK/FR drill, Moroccan/US/FR rap and mellow RnB. She strikes a balance between all these musical colours, forming a rainbow created by hip-hop cultures. Taziri is also playlist curator for the “VraiesMeufs” online outlets and showcases new artists, for a blend of mainstream and new musical gems. Her mix focuses on hip-hop, both American (Jay-Z, Kool Herc and Fab Five Freddy) and French (Alpha Wann, Spri Noir) combined with Caribbean – especially Haitian – sounds.

WEST TERRACE

At the bar, the summery beverage menu will include an elderflower cocktail, chilled organic and local beers, as well as a selection of ginger beer, lemonade and craft juices.

For eating options, La Cantine du Marché welcomes Poly, The Social Food’s hot-dog corner, serving this great American sandwich in its classic form, as well as a vegetarian bahn-mi version. Top it all off with a sweet and delicious Tea Gelato soft ice cream.

GALLERIES LEVELS -1 AND 1

Explore the exhibition with enlightened help from cultural guides and see how the two painters worked enthusiastically within this intense collaboration during the explosion of New York City’s 1980s Downtown art scene that led to unprecedented artistic dialogues.