CommonLAB 2025: meet the artists!
Out of 281 applications sent from all over Europe, 8 artists were finally selected _ instead of the 7 announced; the choice was so difficult, we decided to find extra place! They come from France, Portugal, Sweden and, for the first time, Germany, as well as Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Uruguay, Brazil, Iran, Chile, Egypt and Venezuela. They write, perform, dance and above all tell their own stories.
Stories about utopia, hair, family, grief, determination, melodrama and resistance, while questioning and reinventing contexts and worlds.
They are: Bruno Brandolino (choreographer and performer), Eslam Elnebishy (choreographer and dancer), Keli Freitas (director, writer and actress), Sepideh Khodarahmi (choreographer and dancer), Maria Mercedes Flores Mujica (dance artist), Emmanuel Ndefo (choreographer and researcher), Massandje Sanogo (director, actress and video artist), Shirley Harthey Ubilla (choreographer and performer).
CommonLAB 2025 will kick off on 5 May in Lisbon, then travel between Cologne, Cairo and Bobigny.
Looking back at CommonLAB 2024
On 7 November 2024, the 9 artists of CommonLAB 2024, Nadim Bahsoun, Avildseen Bheekhoo, Diego Bragà, Azani V. Ebengou, Jin Xuan Mao, Agathe Yamina Meziani, Lucía García Pullés, Pankaj Tiwari and Inés Sybille Vooduness presented their projects at the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles as part of the Festival Scènes Nouvelles. On stage: performances, readings, screenings and discussions.
Some of the projects will be supported by CommonPROD in 2025.
Back in pictures with Renewing the commons. This film by Louise Monlaü, produced by the MC93 during the third module of CommonLAB 2024 in Bobigny, brings together four CommonLAB 2024 artists: Azani V. Ebengou, Jin Xuan Mao, Lucía García Pullés and Pankaj Tiwari.
The Good Practices Factory day at the Théâtre National Wallonie Bruxelles
As part of the Common Stories annual meeting (7-9 November 2024), the Good Practices Factory held its annual meeting at the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles.
The meeting was attended by two representatives of the GPF groups from Bobigny, Cologne, Warsaw and Brussels, as well as the public relations and human resources teams from the Théâtre National and the artists from CommonLAB 2024.
The morning was devoted to a presentation by each group of the projects developed in Brussels, Warsaw, Bobigny and Cologne, followed by intense exchanges with the artists and members of the other groups.
The morning ended with a presentation by Maak & Transmettre, a collective, creative space and knowledge-sharing centre that develops co-creation processes with various communities, in particular with women who, despite busy schedules and complicated life histories, have the courage to take courses to learn how to read and write. The encounter with these women gave rise to the workshop, The Langage as tapestry, based on tufting, an ancient textile treatment technique in which a thread is inserted onto a primary base using a gun.
Invited by Théâtre National, members of collective and Nenen, Hafida, Fanta, Mariam, Rabia, Régine, Fatima, Karima, Anifatou and Laila were invited to create a carpet for the theatre, which inspired the visuals for the 2024-25 season.
The presentation was followed by a hands-on workshop where each participant was invited to tuft.
Divided into three groups, the participants took part in the afternoon in three 45-minute workshops in the various spaces of the Théâtre National, focusing on two themes and some breathing space:
Self-defense in a specific context moderated by Safia Kessas, journalist and filmmaker and member of the advisory committee and Alena Sander, researcher and professor at University of Louvain,
Common Stories, what’s next? moderated by playwright Youness Anzane,
Embodiment and inclusivity through mindfulness practice by the osteopath Aurélie de Schoutheete.
The final hour provided an opportunity to summarise what had been shared on the proposed themes.
© Nouria Tirou
Common Stories is a Creative Europe project, supported by the European Union.
Common Stories is presented by the Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis, MC93 (Bobigny, France), in partnership with the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles (Brussels, Belgium), Alkantara (Lisbon, Portugal), Culturgest (Lisbon, Portugal), africologneFESTIVAL (Cologne, Germany), Riksteatern (Stockholm, Sweden), in association with TR Warszawa (Warsaw, Poland).