Bernard Heidsieck, Poetry in action
A film by Anne-Laure Chamboissier & Philippe Franck
In collaboration with Gilles Coudert
Year of production: 2013
Duration: 56 min.
This documentary film with Bernard Heidsieck, precursor in 1955 of “sound poetry” and in 1962 of “poetry action”, paints a new portrait of the artist and his work, with a series of 10 original and recent interviews and audiovisual archives, most often unreleased, of his sound performances.
With Bernard Heidsieck’s voice, this film is a journey into his work as well as an extremely vivid testimony defining sound poetry, historically as well as in its current development. This conversation with the artist is enriched with interviews of other major figures in sound poetry, publishing and performance: Jean-Pierre Bobillot, Olivier Cadiot, Laurent Cauwet, Anne-James Chaton, Paul-Armand Gette, John Giorno, Bernard Heidsieck, Françoise Janicot, Arnaud Labelle-Rojoux and Jean- Jacques Lebel, as well as archival documents about Bernard Heidsieck and his close friends and family.
Different layers cross and overlap at the soundtrack editing level, as well as listening to the archives, or Bernard Heidsieck’s voice and the different participants’ reactions. In order to ensure clarity, this film attempts to go to the heart of the subject and its multiple ramifications, to bring forth its main issues.
Ce film se base sur des entretiens avec l’artiste poète-performer-plasticien Bernard Heidsieck et d’autres figures majeures de la poésie sonore, de l’édition et de la performance (Jean Pierre Bobillot, Olivier Cadiot, Laurent Cauwet, Anne-James Chaton, Paul-Armand Gette, John Giorno, Françoise Janicot, Arnaud Labelle-Rojoux, Jean-Jacques Lebel), ainsi que sur des documents provenant de ses archives personnelles et de ses proches.
Il s’agit de découvrir via des regards croisés et ses riches expériences, le parcours et l’œuvre singulière d’une figure historique essentielle et trop peu connue de la poésie sonore et plus généralement de l’art contemporain. Mais aussi de souligner l’importance que revêt la poésie sonore (et plus particulièrement, la « poésie action » dont Bernard Heidsieck est à l’origine) à la fois sur le plan historique et dans ses développements les plus récents.
Film © 2013 a.p.r.e.s production / CHAM Projects / Solang Production Paris Brussels / Transcultures
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Category
Contemporary art, Literature, Performance, Philosophy, Poetry, VOD (eng)