Love is a Warm Gun

UKR Ruhrding La Fleur 2021 c Daniel Sadrowski 7199

In his 1977 book Fragments of a Language of Love, Roland Barthes arranged in alphabetical order from “Abhängigkeit” (dependency) “Zugrundegehen” (perishing) literally exactly that – fragments of a language of love – based on what he had read, heard, and experienced himself. To this day, his text is of great importance and topicality for many people in terms of form and content. Nevertheless, our emotional worlds of experience have also changed immensly in recent decades. In the tennis hall of the Recklinghäuser Tennisgesellschaft, the local tennis society, and the adjacent city park, the performers of La Fleur, in collaboration with the artist and choreographer Elisabeth Tambwe, enquire into the contemporary meaning of love, taking into account not only Barthes’ text, but also digital communication and the change in social relationships due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

La Fleur is a transnational collective that has developed a highly physical performance style for a new form of theatre work. Since its founding by director Monika Gintersdorfer and choreographer Franck E. Yao alias Gadoukou La Star in 2016, La Fleur analyses and turns French literature into dance from a transcultural perspective and contemplates the hybridisation of dance and music styles in coupé-decalé or Afro-trap, for example. What this means and how it is implemented in concrete terms can be experienced again and again during the eight-week run of the Ruhr Ding: Klima. The boundaries between rehearsal and performance remain fluid: rehearsals are open to the public, after which regular short presentations take place. Visitors can thus immerse themselves directly in the development and working process.

With: Alex Cephus, Annick Choco, Hauke Heumann, Timor Litzenberger, Arturo Lugo, Carlos Martinez, Ordinateur, Gregor Zoch, amongst others.

A co-production by Urbane Künste Ruhr and Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen.


Festival

The performance Love is a Warm Gun was part of the exhibition Ruhr Ding: Klima and was on view from May 22—June 27, 2021 in the park behind the Recklinghausen Tennis Society.

La Fleur Artist ©

La Fleur

During the exhibition at Ruhr Ding: Klima, La Fleur will be dwelling on the book A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments by Roland Barthes together with the artist and choreographer Elisabeth Tambwe.