Useless luxury
For several months, Leonardo Montecchia tracked our everyday movements. Together with his performers, he now presents them to us in a unique show at the heart of the university, entitled "In-utile. Beyond Utility."
“I have a problem with the word choreographer, he warns. I see myself more as a thinker of the body, a body in relation to its environment.Between October and December, Leonardo Montecchia was "immersed" in the University of Montpellier: this is the principle behind hosting an artist in residence.
Moments of light
With his interpreters, he came to rub shoulders with students, teachers, researchers, and staff. To observe them, to study them."To question everyday gestures," he explains: gestures of transmission, of craft, but also of reflection, of impatience...Focusing on questioning the most subtle, the most insignificant, but also perhaps the most significant of them: the useless gesture.
He tracked them down in lecture halls, labs, classrooms, and libraries, with the patience of a hunter. Today, he recreates them through the magic of dance, in the very places where he captured these moments of light.
"What place, in today's hyper-productive society, is there for the useless gesture, the gesture that 'serves no purpose'?"asks this singular observer of the body in motion. What space, in the field of learning, is there for the useless? Is it that of inaction? Of reflection?"
Another look at reality
Leonardo is right at home in this academic environment. Here, he pursues his ongoing quest for a form of contemporary art that draws inspiration from everyday life and appeals to everyone. His quest is for "another possible body: a body to be imagined. Art helps us to see reality in a different light," he continues. "To build a different world."
This project is particularly well suited to a university setting: "This is where the future is made! The university is fundamentally an artistic place: a place of learning and research, but also of questioning and awakening consciousness. It is a space for creation, closely linked to the imagination."
Artist residency
Since 2009—and since 2013 in partnership with the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs—the UM's art and culture department has launched an annual call for projects to host an artist or artistic team in residence.
"The artist residency invites everyone to take a different look at their daily lives. It should also allow the public to enter the heart of the university and discover it for what it is: a space open to the world and society,"explains Marta Cases Bobadilla of the Art & Culture Department.
“Useless. Beyond usefulness”
Choreographic journey – Leonardo Montecchia – Cie de la Mentira
- Tuesday, April 5 at 6:30 p.m. on the Triolet campus
- Thursday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Faculty of Pharmacy
- Tuesday, April 12 at 6:30 p.m. on the Richter website
- Thursday, April 14, 6:30 p.m. on the Triolet campus
Open to students and staff of the University of Montpellier and the general public
See alsothe interview with Leonardo Montecchia