Mehdi FARAJPOUR
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Conceptual Performance Artist
Mehdi FARAJPOUR
|
Conceptual Performance Artist
About_photo
Dec 2021 - Feb 2022: Resident artist at ACC theatre (Gwangju, South Korea) # 2021-22 Guest choreographer for DIN A 13 tanz company (Cologne, Germany) # 7 October 2022 performing SOUNDGRAPHY at PUF (Pula, Croatia) # 27,28 & 29 October 2022 performing KA-F-KA at Teatro Libero (Palermo, Italy) # July 2022 performing KA-F-KA at Full Moon Dance festival (Finland) # 1 October 2021 performing KA-F-KA at Monodrama Festival (Cheb, Czech republic) # August 2021 performing KA-F-KA at Horizont Festival, Hungary # 23 & 27 August 2021 Workshop and Performance Lab at PSA #11 October 2019 performing KA-F-KA at Teatro Santa Isabel (Recife, Brazil) # 9 October 2019 performing KA-F-KA at Festival de dance de Londrina (Brazil) # 7 & 8 October teaching EMPTY BODY at Festival de dance de Londrina (Brazil) # 21 September 2019 performing SOUNDGRAPHY at Musée Calbet (Occitanie, France) # 22 & 23 August 2019 teaching EMPTY BODY workshops at PARIS SUMMER ACADEMY # 4, 5 & 6 September 2019 KA-F-KA on tour (Limassol & Nicosia, Cyprus) # June-July 2019 new creation: META, a dance installation on Steve REICH's music for 18 musicians (PUF festival, Croatia) # 7 to 13 July 2019 teaching EMPTY BODY workshops at NOTAFE (Estonia) # 18 May 2019: CARTE BLANCHE from Calbet Museum for La nuit des musées (France) # 19 April 2019: KA-F-KA at Triumph Philharmonia (In frame of MOHOfest of Perm, Russia) # 26 April 2019: KA-F-KA at International Contemporary Choreography Festival (Omsk, Russia) # Jan 2019: Resident artist in Théâtre de l'Oulle (Avignon, France) # 16 Jan 2019 SOUNDGRAPHY at Théâtre de l'Oulle (Avignon, France) # Video projection: DARK SIDE at Festival International de Vidéo Poésie (20 Nov 2018), Buenos Aires, Argentina # New performance entitled NO MORE BIRDS ON MY SIDE! at H.P.A.C. of South Korea (September-October 2018) # KA-F-KA at OPERA PRIMA Festival (16 September 2018) Rovigo, Italy # KA-F-KA at FIAT Festival (10 September 2018) Podgorica, Montenegro # KA-F-KA at CornerTeateret (7 September 2018) Bergen, Norway # STOP SPOT II at Dance days Chania festival (19 July 2018) Greece # EMPTY BODY workshops at Dance Days Chania festival, Greece (20,21,22 July 2018) # President of jury for PUF International Theatre Festival (Croatia) # New Performance project: SoundGraphy at Birmingham Dance Network (May-June 2018) # KA-F-KA at TESZT Festival (23 May 2018) Romania # Resident artist at H.P.A.C. of South Korea (September 2017) # KA-F-KA, Dance days Chania, Greece (27 July 2017) # Workshop and lecture at Dance days Chania, Greece (26 July 2017) # Workshop and new creation at 5th International PARIS SUMMER ACADEMY (31 July to 26 August 2017) # work in progress: SOLO FOR ANTONIO IN 162 Hz # CORPS OUBLIÉS (Le sacre du printemps), SommerBlut festival, Cologne, Germany (13 May 2017) # Artist in residence at "RAMDAM, un centre d'art" (6 to 20 March 2017), Lyon, France # Workshop & a new creation called AFTER ALL at Hiroshima theatre of Barcelona (13 to 18 September 2016) # DO NOT ENTER in frame of a group exhibition called LES PASSAGERS at institut du Monde Arabe of Paris (1 October 2016) # YET UNTITLED at CRICOTEKA (Tadeusz Kantor's museum in frame of the Sound Art festival, Krakow, Poland (25 Nov 2016) # YET UNTITLED at Culture house, Opole Poland (27 November 2016 # Workshop EMPTY BODY at Culture house, Opole, Poland (22 & 23 November 2016) # DO NOT ENTER Culture house, Opole Poland (23 November 2016).

WORKS

Artistic Director of ORIANTHEATRE Dance Company

Artistic Director of ORIANTHEATRE Dance Company

CV

CV

  • Biography
    EN
    Mehdi FARAJPOUR is the founder, choreographer and artistic director of the ORIANTHEATRE Dance Company. Farajpour began as a theatre and dance artist but now is considered a conceptual performance artist. The artistic career of Mehdi Farajpour covers various fields from dance, theatre, and performance art to the video, sound, and installation art. He divides his time between creating shows for the company and teaching his movement method: EMPTY BODY. Farajpour published his book, The Monk Performer in Tehran in 2008. The book consists of his theories about the Presence & Concentration. Mehdi Farajpour is the program manager of PARIS SUMMER ACADEMY, an artistic educational program in partnership with the Cité Internationale des Arts de Paris. Venues & Festivals where his shows & workshops have been invited: IMPULSTANZ festival (Vienna, Austria), PUF (Pula, Croatia), OPERA-PRIMA festival (Rovigo, Italy), Institut du Monde Arabes (Paris, France), Istrian National Theatre (Croatia), SOLO festival (Moscow, Russia), TESZT festival (Romania), CRICOTEKA (Tadeusz Kantor’s Museum in Krakow, Poland), Wroclaw National Art Museum (Poland), FIAT festival (Montenegro), SOMMERBLUT festival (Cologne, Germany), MOHO festival (Perm, Russia), Contemporary Choreography festival (Omsk, Russia), Londrina Dance festival (Londrina, Brazil), Teatro Santa Isabel (Recife, Brazil), Kypria festival (Limassol & Nicosia, Cyprus), Asia Culture Center (Gwangju, South Korea), Teatro Libero Palermo (Italy) among others… Most recently Farajpour was a 2021-2022 Resident artist at the Asia Culture Center (Gwangju, South Korea) and a 2020-2022 Guest choreographer for DIN A 13 tanzcompany (Köln, Germany). In 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2019 he received the Best Performance award for his performances: ETC ETC. YET UNTITLED, SUMMER COLLECTION BY MF & META from The Pula International Theatre Festival (Pula, Croatia). In 2011 he was awarded The Best Director Prize for his performance BECKETT (I END) at the International Theatre Festival of Lomza (Lomza, Poland). He received The Best Choreography and Creative Music for Suddhalaiyadi from 26th Tehran International Theatre Festival in 2008 (Tehran, Iran).
  • Biographie
    FR
    Mehdi FARAJPOUR est chorégraphe et directeur artistique de la compagnie ORIANTHEATRE. Après des débuts sur scène en tant que comédien et danseur à Téhéran, Mehdi Farajpour est aujourd’hui considéré comme un artiste conceptuel. Sa carrière artistique couvre plusieurs domaines tels que la danse, le théâtre, la vidéo, la poésie, la performance et l'installation. Il partage son temps entre la création d’œuvres chorégraphiques pour sa compagnie et l’enseignement de sa méthode, EMPTY BODY. The MONK PERFORMERS est le titre de son livre publié en 2008 en Iran. Il y propose, à travers son expérience scénique, une méthode améliorant le degré de concentration des interprètes sur scène. Le travail artistique et/ou pédagogues de Mehdi a été déjà présenté aux festivals et lieux suivants: Festival IMPULSTANZ (Vienne), Festival OPERA-PRIMA (Italie), INSTITUT DE MONDES ARABS (Paris), Festival SOLO (Moscou, Russie), Festival TESZT (Roumanie), Festival PUF & Istrian National Theatre (Croatie), Festival de dansa de Londrina (Brésil), CRICOTEKA (musée de Tadeusz Kantor à Cracovie), BDN & BIDF (Birmingham, GB), Recife Dance Festival (Brésil), SOMMERBLUT festival (Cologne, Allemagne), MONOfest (Perm, Russie), Musée national d'art de Wroclaw (Pologne), Festival FIAT (Monténégro), Festival de danse de Omsk (Russie),…

EMPTY BODY

THE METHOD

EMPTY BODY is a movement and contemporary choreographic practice where the borders of Dance, Theatre, Performance & Poetry intertwine. The foundation of the method is inspired by the soul of Eastern Philosophy. The main goal of the Empty Body method is to reach a state of Emptiness in the mind as well as in the body. This is a similar goal as in Hinduism: SAMADHI (समाधि), or in Sufism: FANA (فقر و فنا)  & in Buddhism: Nirvana (निर्वाण).

Empty Body is conceived based on several factors:


CONCEPTS

1) Theatre & Dance: In theatre, actors need to host a second character which is the role they are playing which very often has a much bolder importance in the show than the actor’s own personal character. Therefore they have to empty their body from any pre-existing characters, including their own. When it come to dance, dancers do not necessarily need to play any role, nor represent their own character in performance, thus calling for an emptying of their own pre-existing characteristics.

2) Meditation in Motion: This concept is based on the power of imagination and meditation while moving. The Body is considered an object or a tool to be controlled and moved by the Mind. The body, therefore, becomes something to be carried, something to be danced with. This requires separating Body and Mind (in opposition to the concept of BMC), in order to fully embrace the body as a tool to be used for movement.

3) Eastern Philosophy: As mentioned earlier, EMPTY BODY is inspired by some Eastern Philosophies, including the belief in Transmogrification, along others. Some Eastern Philosophies aim to perceive the meaning of life via the other elements: trees, stone, water, and so on. This path can’t be taken through imitation, but rather by becoming. It is throughout this journey that the EGO disappears, and one becomes no-one (empty).


What exactly is the EMPTY BODY?

The Empty Body is the purest state of being, which does not carry any character, nor any characteristics. It is simply a body. In other words, the Empty Body is a vessel which has the potential to represent any element, character, emotion, or state.


What to expect in an EMPTY BODY workshop:

The workshop begins with an introductory exploration into entering the Empty Body state of being. This includes investigations in organic breathing and meditating while moving. Participants then learn several innovative ways of moving, composing and choreographing, constantly building on this previously obtained Empty Body state. This can be done through animated images, visualising poetry (notation), living in an imaginary situation (absolute surrealism), following geometrical shapes, and intertwining them with various dimensions, rhythms, tempos, intensities, intentions and more.


TOPICS: 

– Geometrical shapes
– Unbalanced stability
– Meditation in Motion
– External power and the way it moves the body
– Inner power and the way it moves the body
– Rhythm & tempo of silence
– Translating poetry into movement
– Gravity transfer
– Absolute surrealism
– Animating a photo
– Moving slowly (living) vs slow-motion (imitating)
– Falling (accidental) vs dropping of the body(purposeful)
– Three dimensional drawing in the space
– Writing with the body
– Random choreography (1 beat movements)

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