RITOURNELLE / FIRST CONTACT
“I hold you
in silence
awaiting some kind of answer
of what you speak
looking for a way to lose my words”
Beginning in September 2022, Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert has undertaken an investigation in which s he seeks to establish a dialogue between human beings and other species: insects, plants and animals. This investigation began with a case study: neighboring birds in heir neighborhood in Marseille.
First Contact presents the initial stages of this ongoing investigation, heir first tentatives at dialogue with the birds that surround C. Alexander and visit on heir balcony, as well as the fruits of these correspondences that bear witness to the understanding between the artist and other species, and more generally between human-beings and bird-beings. The installation follows in their stories, their songs, their flights, and their common horizons.
Following this first experimentation Christopher A. K. Gellert continues heir research in a larger project with the creation of a constellation of interspecies languages with other members of the Tramages collective. To heighten our ability to listen - to hear - one another, this constellation will deploy different forms of translation to create links between our oral and written languages and the sensory languages of birdsong, apian dances, the vibrations of trees... Through these exchanges - this polyphony - the artist seeks to create more harmonious, respectful and loving relationships between human beings and the more than human.
The performance, Ritournelle, in collaboration with Ana Rita Nicoliello was activated for the first time on April 8th at La Générale Nord-Est, Paris in the sound installation, First Contact, was presented as part of a collective exhibition with the collective Tramages, "Chemins partagés" from April 4th through April 9th, 2023
Ritournelle establishes a dialogue between two human beings and the birds that surround them, through words, songs, and gestures – it is an invitation to come together, to join in conversation, and find one another in an inter-species dance.
in silence
awaiting some kind of answer
of what you speak
looking for a way to lose my words”
Beginning in September 2022, Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert has undertaken an investigation in which s he seeks to establish a dialogue between human beings and other species: insects, plants and animals. This investigation began with a case study: neighboring birds in heir neighborhood in Marseille.
First Contact presents the initial stages of this ongoing investigation, heir first tentatives at dialogue with the birds that surround C. Alexander and visit on heir balcony, as well as the fruits of these correspondences that bear witness to the understanding between the artist and other species, and more generally between human-beings and bird-beings. The installation follows in their stories, their songs, their flights, and their common horizons.
Following this first experimentation Christopher A. K. Gellert continues heir research in a larger project with the creation of a constellation of interspecies languages with other members of the Tramages collective. To heighten our ability to listen - to hear - one another, this constellation will deploy different forms of translation to create links between our oral and written languages and the sensory languages of birdsong, apian dances, the vibrations of trees... Through these exchanges - this polyphony - the artist seeks to create more harmonious, respectful and loving relationships between human beings and the more than human.
The performance, Ritournelle, in collaboration with Ana Rita Nicoliello was activated for the first time on April 8th at La Générale Nord-Est, Paris in the sound installation, First Contact, was presented as part of a collective exhibition with the collective Tramages, "Chemins partagés" from April 4th through April 9th, 2023
Ritournelle establishes a dialogue between two human beings and the birds that surround them, through words, songs, and gestures – it is an invitation to come together, to join in conversation, and find one another in an inter-species dance.
credit photo First Contact: Ghazaal Ghahveh
ARCHIVE DES GESTES INTERDITS
VERS DES VERS
Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert & Alexia Antuofermo
Printing and engraving on various found materials, videos, 2020
Printing and engraving on various found materials, videos, 2020
Series of videos produced in collaboration with the cultural team at Montrouge city library with the participants from a cycle of writing workshops coordinated by Paquita Naud and Brigitte Bossavy
The day after tomorrow, what world will we wake to?
During this last lockdown “les vers des vers” (“the rhymes of the earth”) have worked been ardently burrowing in space-time, leaving behind lines to follow. As we searched them out, we followed their tracks and traces hither and thither through the lanes and ways of Mountrouge. They have taken up here and there in the streets of the city, awaiting the days to come. These portents of a near or distant future were interpreted by the library’s readers and listeners and the participants of the writing workshops, who invoked the future in a handful of words.
Wanted! Other rhymes have escaped and continue to make way in the city. So, keep your eyes open! If you happen upon a byway to cross their mark, make note, take it away, and keep it close – and then drop us a line! ([email protected])
And then come with! Once all they rhymes have been sounded together and begun to speak amongst themselves, we will invoke invoke the path ahead and map a sensory geography of the city and its becomings.
The day after tomorrow, what world will we wake to?
During this last lockdown “les vers des vers” (“the rhymes of the earth”) have worked been ardently burrowing in space-time, leaving behind lines to follow. As we searched them out, we followed their tracks and traces hither and thither through the lanes and ways of Mountrouge. They have taken up here and there in the streets of the city, awaiting the days to come. These portents of a near or distant future were interpreted by the library’s readers and listeners and the participants of the writing workshops, who invoked the future in a handful of words.
Wanted! Other rhymes have escaped and continue to make way in the city. So, keep your eyes open! If you happen upon a byway to cross their mark, make note, take it away, and keep it close – and then drop us a line! ([email protected])
And then come with! Once all they rhymes have been sounded together and begun to speak amongst themselves, we will invoke invoke the path ahead and map a sensory geography of the city and its becomings.
PôLE DANSE
Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert, Alexia Antuofermo, Maëlle Berthoumieu
plans conceived for the call for projects Les Jardins du monde en mouvement 2020 initiated by La Cité Universitaire
plans conceived for the call for projects Les Jardins du monde en mouvement 2020 initiated by La Cité Universitaire
Over the course of the seasons, the residents of la Cité universitaire will breathe new life into the Lépold Senghor garden. The transformation of the grassy quad into a vegetable patch will bear fruit throughout the year, which will be cultivated and enjoyed by the Cité’s residents. This garden aspires to rethink our collective choices in a poetic experimentation and agricultural reappropriation of urban spaces. The vegetables and wishes that emerge from this garden will be scattered with poetic ‘sprouts’ that convey wishes for the future gathered during writing workshops with residents. On the occasion of the annual festival of the Cité, the garden will be reinaugurated with a May Pole danse.
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This garden is rooted in the history of La Cité International universitaire, a space where people of all nationlities can live in peace, eat at the same table and sleep under the same roof. By choosing the Fondation Deutsch de la Meurthe the Cité Universitaire's past and future enter ino corrspondance, breaking down the boundaries that seperate humans from other species.
passages en actes
Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert & Alexia Antuofermo
found engraved wood, variable dimensions, 2019
installation and performance as part of the collective exhibition Épagôgè at 59 Rivoli
curators : Magali-Rifflart Villeneuve et Andreea Macea
is an invitation to displacement. To invoke texts, to step on them, to disturb them – to divert the line. The work is in constant flux, transforming itself through the steps of its visitors. It’s a raft, a refuge, a magic carpet, where the traversed and invoked words enter into resonance with the body and spirit— and where the two meet. The wood -found, escaped, recovered- whispers to us. Listen, decrypt it on tiptoes, with the tips of your fingers, rubbing follicles up against text. It’s a ritual, a recitation, a trial, where each piece of ‘drift-wood’ is a fragment of verse, a magical formula, a koan – a call to renewal and regeneration. It’s a line of gestures, acts, and words.
photos: Margaux Taleux
Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert & Alexia Antuofermo
found engraved wood, variable dimensions, 2019
installation and performance as part of the collective exhibition Épagôgè at 59 Rivoli
curators : Magali-Rifflart Villeneuve et Andreea Macea
is an invitation to displacement. To invoke texts, to step on them, to disturb them – to divert the line. The work is in constant flux, transforming itself through the steps of its visitors. It’s a raft, a refuge, a magic carpet, where the traversed and invoked words enter into resonance with the body and spirit— and where the two meet. The wood -found, escaped, recovered- whispers to us. Listen, decrypt it on tiptoes, with the tips of your fingers, rubbing follicles up against text. It’s a ritual, a recitation, a trial, where each piece of ‘drift-wood’ is a fragment of verse, a magical formula, a koan – a call to renewal and regeneration. It’s a line of gestures, acts, and words.
photos: Margaux Taleux
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Villes verrières
Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert & Alexia Antuofermo
cement, earth, sand, acrylic plastic, words, impression UV, 30 x 30 cm maximum for each city, 2019
installation presented as part of thr group exhibtion "Art Métropole" at l'École de l’Urbanisme de Paris and during "Future Days" at L'Université Gustave-Eiffel
curator: Hadrien Frémont
Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert & Alexia Antuofermo
cement, earth, sand, acrylic plastic, words, impression UV, 30 x 30 cm maximum for each city, 2019
installation presented as part of thr group exhibtion "Art Métropole" at l'École de l’Urbanisme de Paris and during "Future Days" at L'Université Gustave-Eiffel
curator: Hadrien Frémont
This triptych of cities combines concrete, soil, lyric narrative, and images. These invisible cities crystallize through the combination
of vegetable prints and text. These city-islets question the place and/or the absence of living beings in urban environments and the colonization of urban space by data
networks. These city-artifacts are uprooted from the terrestrial body to reveal their concrete foundations and the traces
of the Earth that carries them. By unveiling these non-visible spaces, Villes verrières questions our urban desire’s ramifications
and the gaps between utopias, dystopias, and entopias.
of vegetable prints and text. These city-islets question the place and/or the absence of living beings in urban environments and the colonization of urban space by data
networks. These city-artifacts are uprooted from the terrestrial body to reveal their concrete foundations and the traces
of the Earth that carries them. By unveiling these non-visible spaces, Villes verrières questions our urban desire’s ramifications
and the gaps between utopias, dystopias, and entopias.
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photos: Taylor Smith
BALlade
Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert & Alexia Antuofermo
Performance at Le Festival des Écritures bougées 2019 at Le Centre d'art contemporain, La Traverse, Alfortville
Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert & Alexia Antuofermo
Performance at Le Festival des Écritures bougées 2019 at Le Centre d'art contemporain, La Traverse, Alfortville
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photos: Aziyadé Badouin Talec
Conceived as a ball, where attention to space and others is privileged, BALlade invites a visual and acoustic dyslexia in the activation of urban trajectories by gallery-attendees, thereby mingling their lifelines lines with those of the urbanites we encountered on the street. The project was initiated with a simple gesture, asking passersbys if we could accompany them on their paths. This performative investigation gave way to a performance, where we asked the public to follow us on these urban journeys and to experience wandering (getting lost) in a cartographic personification of the encounters.
Conceived as a ball, where attention to space and others is privileged, BALlade invites a visual and acoustic dyslexia in the activation of urban trajectories by gallery-attendees, thereby mingling their lifelines lines with those of the urbanites we encountered on the street. The project was initiated with a simple gesture, asking passersbys if we could accompany them on their paths. This performative investigation gave way to a performance, where we asked the public to follow us on these urban journeys and to experience wandering (getting lost) in a cartographic personification of the encounters.
to the right, map conceived by weaving together different trajectories from passers-by
below, a poetic transcription from Fanny's 'balade'
j’habite vraiment pas très loin
vous me prenez là
et je vais là
chez moi c’est bien comme... c’est dans le nord
la famille
dans le nord de Paris
la famille est à l’hôpital et voilà
j’ai tous mes repères ici
non, non
je travaille depuis longtemps
below, a poetic transcription from Fanny's 'balade'
j’habite vraiment pas très loin
vous me prenez là
et je vais là
chez moi c’est bien comme... c’est dans le nord
la famille
dans le nord de Paris
la famille est à l’hôpital et voilà
j’ai tous mes repères ici
non, non
je travaille depuis longtemps
Jardin Memoria
Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert, Alexia Antuofermo,
Maram Rekik, Sarra Ketroussi
Plans concieved for the call for projects Les jardins du monde en mouvement
2019 at La Cité Internationale Universitaire
During a time of immense climatic change, and a greater awareness
of the Anthropocene and the impact of our actions on the future of
the planet, we chose to respond to this the call with an ecological
fiction. Our proposition takes the form of a memorial garden that a
future generation would have constructed in memory of actions that
have occurred throughout history, actions which have both induced
climate change and others that have reversed it. The symbolism of
passage and transition invites visitors to travel through history and
reflect on our future.
Maram Rekik, Sarra Ketroussi
Plans concieved for the call for projects Les jardins du monde en mouvement
2019 at La Cité Internationale Universitaire
During a time of immense climatic change, and a greater awareness
of the Anthropocene and the impact of our actions on the future of
the planet, we chose to respond to this the call with an ecological
fiction. Our proposition takes the form of a memorial garden that a
future generation would have constructed in memory of actions that
have occurred throughout history, actions which have both induced
climate change and others that have reversed it. The symbolism of
passage and transition invites visitors to travel through history and
reflect on our future.
L’Œuvre dématérialisée (L’art dans la Chtulucène)
organization and participation in a performative round table at La Maison de l’Argentine as part of a week of confernce on climate change and renwable development at l’Université de la Paix à la Cité internationale universitaire de Paris avec l’atelier Raffard-Roussel, Florencia Hisi et Sumboy Vrainom€
photos: Marion Ficher
In the Chthulucene when we can attest to a vertiginous weaving between human beings and other species and where our natural resources are increasingly rarer and more precious, it is important to reflect on the materiality of the art object and its ecological consequences (in transport, materials, production, etc.) and to invent alternatives that redefine artistic experience. During this performative roundtable with the artist and researchers, Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert, Florencia
Hisi, Seumboy Vrainom € and the Studio Raffard-Roussel, each participant presented their current research and work.
photos: Marion Ficher
In the Chthulucene when we can attest to a vertiginous weaving between human beings and other species and where our natural resources are increasingly rarer and more precious, it is important to reflect on the materiality of the art object and its ecological consequences (in transport, materials, production, etc.) and to invent alternatives that redefine artistic experience. During this performative roundtable with the artist and researchers, Christopher Alexander Kostritsky Gellert, Florencia
Hisi, Seumboy Vrainom € and the Studio Raffard-Roussel, each participant presented their current research and work.