Marie Dominique Dhelsing

In Urban Scénos Johannesburg

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Marie Dominique Dhelsing produced a number of video pieces during the residency, all of which were informed by the site-specific context  and encounters with local communities. She worked with students from the Vega design school  (at the Drill Hall) as well St. Enda’s College (Joubert Park) on a series of videos in which participants used cellphones to explore their positions and wishes for their environment. She spent extensive time researching and documenting daily interactions and the streets which resulted in a comprehensive diary and hours of footage. This was partly consolidated into video works that were presented at a DVD stall at Noord Street Market and in a hair-salon at the Drill Hall. For example, “In the Ring” or “Battle of Love” was produced in collaboration with two dancers, Mbuso Kgarebe and Fanny Skura at George’s Boxing Gym on Claim Street. The video sees the two performers in a dance like fight where neither win or lose. The video was projected during the festival on a large screen in the street at the Drill Hall, as well as in a local hair-salon. See also:  http://blogs.arte.tv/villes-monde. Dhelsing worked closely with her assistant Quaz Roodt.

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BATTLE OF LOVE

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Photos : Quaz Roodt

Shooting of the video « in the ring » / With Mbuso Kagebe & Fanny Skura

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Photos : M.D.Dhelsing

Diffusion des vidéos dans les salons de coiffure et chez les vendeurs de DVD

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Photos : M.D.Dhelsing

Photos de boxeurs / Gym de la rue …

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Photos : Quaz Roodt & M.D.Dhelsing

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INSIDE OUT

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Photos : M.D.Dhelsing

At Imagination lab & St Edna School

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INSIDE OUT

Ce projet est une tentative d’exploration de Doornfontein, un quartier du centre ville de Johannesburg, à travers différents points de vue, les regards multiples de ses habitants et le mien.

C’est l’un des sites urbains ayant la plus grande densité de population du continent. De très nombreuses populations africaines y cohabitent dans un climat tendu. Pour un visiteur extérieur, ce quartier est d’un accès difficile.

This project sets out to explore Doornfontein, adjacent to Joubert Park inner city Johannesburg, from different points of view, between its inhabitants and my own. The neighbourhood has one of the highest population density on the continent. African communities from different countries live here, sometimes in a tense atmosphere. For a foreign visitor, getting access to this neighbourhood is not easy.

Comment découvrir un lieu jusqu’alors inconnu dans lequel on ne peut pas circuler facilement et en faire des images? Comment filmer un tel espace ? Comment trouver la « bonne » place ? La distance « juste » ? Comment déceler la diversité des destins qui le constituent ?

The project follows questions of how such a neighbourhood can be accessed, engaged and documented. Is it possible to look for the Œright¹ place and find it, with the Œright¹ degree of distance and insight? How can the diverse destinies that it produces be uncovered in ways that are accessible as information and dialogue ?

Durant ce mois passé dans le quartier, j’ai envie de chercher au-delà d’une première vision qui resterait à la surface des choses. Je vais tenter de faire des images du quartier. Mais j’ai envie de confronter mon regard à ceux de ses habitants.

During the month spent in the neighbourhood, I would like to go beyond a vision that could remain on the surface of things. My aim is to confront my way of seeing with that of the inhabitants – if possible.

J’irai à la rencontre des habitants de Doorfontein. Je les filmerai en leur demandant de me raconter leur quartier. Puis je leur proposerai de le filmer avec un téléphone portable ou un appareil numérique. Ils seront en quelque sorte mes passeurs d’images.

Process: meeting Doornfontein¹s inhabitants; documenting their accounts of the story of their neighbourhood; asking them to film the area and their context with a mobile phone or a small camera. The material will be processed into a multimedia installation in the neighbourhood at the end of the residency. The ‘scenographic’ space will work like an echo of the initial exploratory research and the exchanges that have accompanied it.

Puis viendra le temps de l’installation multimédia, dans le quartier, pendant le festival. Son espace scénographique constituera comme un écho de cette exploration et des échanges qui l’ont accompagnée.

Afterwards will come the time for the multimedia installation in the neighbourhood, during the festival. Its scenographic space will work like an echo of this exploratory research and of the exchanges that have accompanied it.

Cette exploration aura eu lieu avec eux, à la croisée de points de vue, dans un espace-temps donné. Ces éléments seront ensuite articulés dans un dispositif de restitution, sous forme d’un DVD interactif et d’un site Internet. Ils permettront de recréer une sorte de déambulation aléatoire au sein du quartier de Doornfontein – cette flânerie que j’avais crue impossible…

The intention is that the process of research and encounter will be equally shaped by the residents, at the intersection of different of points of view, in a specific space and time. These elements will then be articulated in the form of an interactive DVD and a website. They will give the opportunity to recreate a sort of a random stroll through the heart of Doornfontain ­ perhaps one that I had thought to be impossible.

Une autre présentation du projet est déjà prévue en France au Théâtre Paris-Villette en mai 2009 // Another presentation of the project is already planned in May 2009 at the Paris-Villette Theater.

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In <<RR=FF>> Paris-Villette

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