“Pulcino STATUE ORIGINAL Ver.” is an edition in collaboration with MEDICOM TOY. This is a reference to “Pulcino”, initially showcased in 2009 in Paris, Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés during Parcours Saint Germain Art Event.
Height : 600 mm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
“Armor of SUPER POLIFILO STATUE ORIGINAL Ver.” is an edition in collaboration with MEDICOM TOY. This is a reference to The Hero’s Armor or “Super Polifilo’s Armor”, showcased in the 2014 solo exhibition “The Dream of Polifilo” held at the Hara Museum, Tokyo.
Height : approx 380 mm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
Aramasa & Nicolas Buffe / No6 : Dix ans – Noël 2021
999 marches
Contents: 720mℓ,
Raw rice: Akita Sake Komachi,
Rice polishing rate: 55%,
Alcohol content: 11 degrees,
Preparation container: Temperature control tank
Bottle used: SW
Click here for product details:
Special edition project in collaboration with Aramasa on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Number 6.
I chose to treat a legend from the Akita region presented as one of the origins of the Namahage from Oga peninsula.
“The Gate of the Wolf’s Mouth Statue ORIGINAL Ver.” is an edition in collaboration with MEDICOM TOY. This is a reference to Mouth of a Wolf or “The Gate of the Wolf’s Mouth”, a monumental installation situated at the entrance of the 2014 solo exhibition “The Dream of Polifilo” held at the Hara Museum, Tokyo.
Height : approx 400 mm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
The Exhibition
L’exposition retrace l’histoire passionnante du repas gastronomique des Français, de l’Antiquité à nos jours. Née d’une idée originale du musée de Pointe-à-Callière de Montréal, elle évoque la préparation des mets et leur consommation, les arts de la table et celui de la conversation. Elle convie le visiteur à un tour de tables mettant en scène près de 1 000 œuvres. Elles proviennent en majorité des riches collections du Musée national de céramique de Sèvres et du Musée national Adrien Dubouché de Limoges. Les prêts prestigieux d’institutions et de grandes maisons françaises comme Christofle ou Saint-Louis complètent le propos. Les exceptionnelles créations de la Manufacture de Sèvres en ponctuent le parcours.
L’exposition montre l’évolution d’une pratique partagée par tous. Elle fait œuvre citoyenne en luttant contre l’uniformisation des goûts et en soutenant la créativité de la culture française. Elle rappelle l’importance du repas gastronomique qui accompagne en France tous les grands événements de la vie. À travers cette exposition, Sèvres – Manufacture et Musée nationaux célébre la convivialité, le partage et la transmission. Autour du thème fédérateur de la gastronomie, l’exposition s’adresse au plus grand nombre : familles, jeune public ainsi qu’aux amateurs et connaisseurs de gastronomie, d’histoire et d’arts de la table.
Pour compléter les thèmes abordés par l’exposition et s’interroger sur des questions actuelles liées à la gastronomie, la nutrition, la biodiversité ou les arts de la table, une programmation de rencontres suivies d’un atelier est prévue le troisième dimanche du mois.
L’exposition est organisée sous le patronage de la Commission nationale française pour l’UNESCO. Elle sera ensuite présentée à Limoges au Musée national Adrien Dubouché.
The exhibition is also presented online.
Link:
À Table ! Le repas, tout un art – Exposition en ligne
For More Information
Five new items of the “The Dream of Polifilo” series have been released in the context of my collaboration with MEDICOM TOY.
“The Gate of the Wolf’s Mouth Wall Clock”
Dimensions : H41.5cm×W31.5cm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
“The Gate of the Wolf’s Mouth Rug”
Dimensions : φ900mm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
“The Dream of Polifilo Large Fiber Box”
Dimensions : W255mm×H320mm×D360mm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
“The Dream of Polifilo Small Fiber Box”
Dimensions : W255mm×H160mm×D360mm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
“Pulcino Mobile”
Height : approx 300mm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
“The Gate of the Wolf’s Mouth Statue WHITE Ver.” is the second release of my collaboration with MEDICOM TOY. This is a reference to Mouth of a Wolf or “The Gate of the Wolf’s Mouth”, showcased in the 2014 solo exhibition “The Dream of Polifilo” held at the Hara Museum, Tokyo.
Height : approx 400 mm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
“Armor of SUPER POLIFILO STATUE WHITE Ver.” is the first release of my collaboration with MEDICOM TOY. This is a reference to The Hero’s Armor or “Super Polifilo’s Armor”, showcased in the 2014 solo exhibition “The Dream of Polifilo” held at the Hara Museum, Tokyo.
Height : approx 380 mm
Available at 2G, MEDICOM TOY PLUS
Presentation : OPENERS (jp)
Interview by OPENERS (jp) : here
For more information :
Syncstore.jp
Nicolas Buffe, a French artist based in Tokyo, is the creator behind a multifaceted, interdisciplinary world combining erudite and popular culture. Born in 1978, he belongs to a generation naturally marked by Japanese culture, developing from childhood a passion for cartoons, manga and video games.
The concept behind this jewel comes from the combination of two worlds that at first might seem to be in opposition. On the one hand, there is the Manufacture de Sèvres, emblem of the prestigious history of French porcelain since the 18th century, also embodying a certain notion of refinement and fragility. On the other hand, there is Shoot’em up, which as the name suggests, is a frantic action video game in which the aim is to eliminate ever more enemies from outer space appearing on the screen.
Orchestrated by MiniMasterpiece since 2017, the “Shoot’em up” project is composed of 4 jewels in limited edition, the show will be staged by Yann Delacour.
Opening of the show on Thursday September 19, 2019 from 6 to 8 PM in presence of the artist
More information :
Galerie MiniMasterpiece (project page)
Galerie MiniMasterpiece (exhibition page)
Photo by Yann Delacour
With a touch of irony, Nicolas Buffe took pleasure in tracing the links between the origins of French porcelain and those of video games.
Shoot’em up
Necklace, 2019
Sèvres porcelain, green enamel,
18k yellow gold, green onyxs
and cacholongs
edition of 10 + 2AP
édition MiniMasterpiece / Sèvres
Photo by Yann Delacour
Shoot’em up
Earrings, 2019
Sèvres porcelain, green enamel,
18k yellow gold,
and green onyxs
edition of 15 + 2AP
édition MiniMasterpiece / Sèvres
Photo by Yann Delacour
For his first collaboration with Galerie MiniMasterpiece, Nicolas Buffe chose to combine two worlds that at first might seem to be in opposition. On the one hand, there is the Manufacture de Sèvres, emblem of the prestigious history of French porcelain since the 18th century, also embodying a certain notion of refinement and fragility. On the other hand, there is Shoot’em up, which as the name suggests, is a frantic action video game in which the aim is to eliminate ever more enemies from outer space appearing on the screen.
Nicolas Buffe spent long years studying the historical collections in the storerooms of the Manufacture de Sèvres. With their elaborate curves and evocative names, some vases made him think of futuristic spaceships like those he had seen in many video games since his childhood. With a touch of irony, he took pleasure in tracing the links between the origins of French porcelain and those of video games. Each of these is a history that Nicolas Buffe loves, and both in their own ways have universal significance.
Thus, Buffe transformed the Mercury potpourri Vase into an “Invader from Mercury” and the Star Vase of 1776 into the “Starship Defender”. As for the laser beams crossing between these vessels, the parallel with the luminosity and brightness of the stones could not have been bettered. The sophistication of Sèvres biscuits is echoed in the miniature animated vessels on the screen of an arcade terminal.
Shoot’em up
Earrings, 2019
Sèvres porcelain, black enamel,
18k yellow gold,
and pink quartzites
edition of 15 + 2AP
édition MiniMasterpiece / Sèvres
Photo by Yann Delacour
Shoot’em up
Necklace, 2019
Sèvres porcelain, black enamel,
18k yellow gold, green onyxs
and pink quartzites
edition of 10 + 2AP
édition MiniMasterpiece / Sèvres
Photo by Yann Delacour
Nicolas Buffe, a French artist based in Tokyo, is the creator behind a multifaceted, interdisciplinary world combining erudite and popular culture.
Born in 1978, he belongs to a generation naturally marked by Japanese culture, developing from childhood a passion for cartoons, manga and video games. These references were supplemented throughout the course of his studies by classic works of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, such as The Romance of the Rose and The Dream of Poliphilus. This blending of narrative and visual influences is omnipresent in his work, which is based on the humanistic notion of «serio ludere» or «serious play», and which has been presented in France and internationally through exhibitions and outstanding installations, such as in La Maison Rouge (2007, Le Vestibule), Tokyo Contemporary art museum (2008), MAD Paris (2010, Circuit Céramique), Hara Museum of contemporary art de Tokyo (2014, soloshow), Théâtre du Châtelet – Paris and Nijō Castle – Kyoto (Nuit Blanche 2016), French May at Hong Kong City Hall, and K11 Hong Kong (2017 soloshows), Sèvres : 300 Creative years (2017-2018, Suntory Museum – Tokyo and Osaka, Hagi, Shizuoka). Roppongi Art Night (2018, Tokyo) and Magiques Licornes at Musée de Cluny – Paris (2018-19), as well as prestigious and varied collaborative projects (Hermès, Comme des Garçons, Maison Pierre Hermé, Sèvres, Mitsukoshi-Isetan, Craft Limoges, N2, Hankyu, Tsutaya). He is also the winner of the 2010 Aubusson Contemporary Tapestry Award. He ventured into the opera at the invitation of Jean-Luc Choplin and was commissioned twice for the Théâtre du Châtelet to handle scenography, costume design and visual conception for Haydn’s Orlando Paladino (Best Scenic Design of the year 2012) and Mozart’s Il Re Pastore (2015). He designed the stage curtain of the Seine Musicale on the theme of Orpheus (2017).
Most recently, in 2018, he designed one of the five facades of the the Museum Garage in Miami’s Design District (project curated by Terence Riley, with WORKac; J. Mayer H.; Clavel Arquitectos; K/R; 11 national and international awards), while over the winter of 2018-2019, he set up a monumental installation inside Ginza Six in Tokyo. His first collaboration with Sèvres dates back to 2016, when he was invited to participate in an exceptional firing in of the largest wood-fired kiln dating from the 19th century.
An original story about an exchange of diplomatic gifts organized to solve a terrible climate crisis
Central Atrium
The iconic atrium at the center of the GINZA SIX building will feature the Shining Elephant, measuring approximately 3 meters high and more than 4 meters long. In the scene from the story reenacted here, little angels called the Putti deliver the Shining Elephant from the Kingdom of Summer to the Kingdom of Winter by drone.
Overall size: 14.3 meters long, 7.7 meters high
Photos : Nicolas Datiche
Front Entrances
Gates to the Kingdom of Summer and Kingdom of Winter will be installed at the front entrances (two locations) facing Ginza Chuo-dori
Show Windows
Two show windows on the Food Floor (second belowground floor) will feature artwork conveying the message of the story: that compassion for others inspires gift-giving and creates warm bonds between people. These narrative elements will add to the enjoyment of the artwork for gourmets.
In the tableau created here, the ice machine given to the Kingdom of Summer will continually produce popsicles in various flavors. The cold, sweet popsicles create warm feelings and captivate the kingdom’ s prince and its people.
Learning about the Kingdom of Summer from the Shining Elephant, the princess of the Kingdom of Winter imagines it as bright, open, and colorful, a vision expressed by sweet and fruity candy.
Project Team Members：
Artist： Nicolas Buffe / 二コラ・ビュフ
Director： 佐藤 寧子 / Yasuko Sato | プランクス / Pranks inc.
Designers： 廣木花織 / Kaori Hiroki | プランクス / Pranks inc.
櫻井泰子 / Yasuko Sakurai | プランクス / Pranks inc.
石原璃奈 / Rina Ishihara | プランクス / Pranks inc.
Lighting Designer： 廣木花織 / Kaori Hiroki | プランクス / Pranks inc.
Movie and AR Director, Producer： 諏訪重浩 / Shigehiro Suwa | アオキスタジオ / AOKIstudio
Production Director： 安野 貴志 / Takashi Yasuno | 椿や / TSUBAKIYA.Co.,LTD
Chief Producer： 野口好信 / Yoshinobu Noguchi | 椿や / TSUBAKIYA.Co.,LTD
Balloon Artist： 安元啓一郎 / Keiichiro Yasumoto | 椿や / TSUBAKIYA.Co.,LTD
Object Producers： 及川拓児 / Takuji Oikawa | 椿や / TSUBAKIYA.Co.,LTD
北澤高志 / Takashi Kitazawa | 椿や / TSUBAKIYA.Co.,LTD
Client： GINZA SIXリテールマネジメント株式会社 / GINZA SIX Retail Management Co., Ltd
Collaboration goods
Tsutaya Ginza（6F）
https://store.tsite.jp/ginza/event/art/3664-1704141017.html
Sixième Ginza（2F）
PapaBubulle ; Philippe Conticini ; Paletas（B2F）
The mysterious, ambivalent unicorn has throughout history engendered myriad myths and fantasies. In the 1500’s as well as in the contemporary period, it has been the subject of a veritable infatuation. From 14 July 2018 to 25 February 2019, the “Magical Unicorns” exhibition at the Musée de Cluny – National Museum of the Middle Ages illustrates the manner in which artists have represented this legendary creature via illuminated manuscripts and engraved works, sculptures and tapestries, as well as photographs and videos.
Peau de Licorne (Unicorn Hide)
Nicolas Buffe, 2010-2011. Aubusson tapestry & Limoges porcelain
Cité Internationale de la tapisserie et de l’art tissé, Aubusson. Tissage : Atelier Patrick Guillot, Aubusson. Porcelaine: Craft, Limoges, Gérard Borde.
Photo by Keizo Kioku shot in 2014 at Hara Museum of contemporary art, Tokyo
Museum Garage
The Museum Garage is located in the Miami Design District, a neighborhood dedicated to innovative art, design and architecture. Featuring the work of five designers, the seven-story mixed-use structure will feature ground-floor retail spaces and capacity for 800 vehicles.
For the project, In 2015, Design District developer Craig Robins, commissioned architect and curator Terence Riley to develop the concept for Museum Garage. WORKac, J. Mayer H., Clavel Arquitectos, Nicolas Buffe wereselected to create the garage’s facades, alongwith Riley’s own architectural firm K/R (Keenen/ Riley), with TimHaahs serving as the architect-of-the-record.
Exquisite Corpse
Bringing together these designers from around the world, Riley drew inspiration from the surrealist parlor game, Exquisite Corpse. Cadavre Exquis, as the game is known in French, involved a collection of images assembled by various artists with no regard or knowledge of what the other artists have drawn, producing one image whose components don’t necessarily match but flow together as one playful composition. Under Riley’s direction, each participating architect was eventually assigned an area and depth to build out and given freereign to create fully individual designs. The result is a unique modern, architectural version of the Exquisite Corpse.
5 façades
WORKac : Ant Farm
Principals: Amale Andraos, Dan Wood
Associate Principal: Sam Dufaux
Project Architect: Hyun Tek Yoon
Team: Trevor Hollyn Taub, Goran Eriksson
At the corner of NE 1st Avenue and NE 41stStreet in the Design District, the work of theNew York firm WORKac meets that of Berlin-based J.MAYER.H. WORKac’s façade – titled Ant Farm – faces 1st Avenue and celebrates socialinteraction, sustainability, art, music, and thelandscape. In an ant colony-inspired display of human activity, miniaturized public spaces – a garden, a lending library, art space, and playground – and their connecting circulation spaces appear and disappear behind a perforated metal screen that provides visual contrast, shade, and protection.
J. MAYER. H. : Hugs and Kisses
Jürgen Mayer H., Wilko Hoffmann, Marcus Blum, Fabrizio Silvano, Ojive De Lungeta
J. Mayer H.’S façade – titled XOX (Hugs and Kisses) – appears as gigantic interlocking puzzle pieces that nestle at the corner with the forms of WORKac’s façade. XOX then extends westward from the corner along 41st Street. XOX’s enigmatic forms, emblazoned with striping and bright colors, recall the aerodynamic forms of automotive design andappear to float above the sidewalk below. Smaller volumes, covered in metal screens project outward and are activated with embedded light at night.
Nicolas Buffe : Serious Play
The next façade along 41st Street serves as the entrance and exit of the garage. It is the work of Nicolas Buffe – a French-born artist living in Japan – and is constructed with a dark perforated metal backdrop. The façade features a variety of diverse 2D and 3D elements crafted from laser-cut metals and fiber resin plastic. At street level, the façade’s features four 23-foot tall, full 3D caryatids standing astride the garage’s arched entrance and exits. Like the caryatids below, the composition above reflects Buffe’s childhood passion for video games and Japanese animation. The result is the unexpected juxtaposition of anime, tokusatsu, and manga with Buffe’s other passion – Rococo and Baroque architecture.
Clavel Arquitectos : Urban Jam
Principals: Manuel Clavel Rojo, Luis Clavel Sainz
Project leader: Rafael de Giles González
Team: Ricardo Carcelén González, Ramón Gómez Ruiz, Adrián Riquelme Martínez, Mariano Tomás Fuster, Diego Victoria García, David Hernández Conesa
In the space between Nicolas Buffe’s facade and that of K/R, Spanish firm Clavel Arquitectos’s Urban Jam draws from the rebirth of urban life in the Miami Design District – where old structures and discarded spaces have beenrevived by architectural and urban designs. Urban Jam suggests a similar “repurposing” of very familiar elements, using 45 gravity-defying car bodies rendered in metallic goldand silver. In effect, the styles of years past gain a second life as lux sculptural objects, caught in a surreal vertical traffic jam.
K/R : Barricades
Terence Riley, Gustavo Mur, Ethan Royal, Kevin McAlarnen
Furthest west on 41st Street, just opposite the Institute of Contemporary Art, is Barricades, designed by New York- and Miami-based K/R. The design is inspired by Miami’s automotive landscape; particularly it’s ubiquitous orange-and white-striped traffic barriers. In this case, the faux-barriers are turned right side up and form a brightly colored screen. The façade has fifteen “windows” framed in mirror stainless steel, through which concrete planters pop out above the sidewalk.
Construction, Fabrication, and Installation Credits
Each of the five facades has custom lighting designed by the London-based firm of Speirs + Major, Project Manager: Carrie Donahue Bremner.
The five facades are the public face of the seven-story cast concrete parking structure designed and engineered by the Miami office of Tim Haahs, Project Manager Javier Sánchez.
The General Contractor for the entire project was KVC Constructors of Miami, FL. Project Executive: Andrés Del Toro, Project Manager: Joe Bickar, General Superintendent: Nicholas Walsh.
The metal components of the five facades wereengineered, fabricated and installed by Zahner of Kansas City, MO., Project Manager: Derek Rehm.
The fibre resin components of Buffe’s and Clavel’s facades were fabricated by Entech Innovative of Rockledge, FL. Project Manager: Shane Grey.
Ownership
The client for the project is Design District Associates, a partnership between Dacra and LVMH that is responsible for the revitalization of the Design District.
The client commissioned Miguel de Guzmán from Madrid to document the project photographically.
Museum Garage photos by ImagenSubliminal (Miguel de Guzman + Rocio Romero)
On the occasion of this collaboration, I designed a series of installations for Comme des Garçons, starting with the Aoyama flagship store on September 6th.
A special edition of t-shirts featuring “The Dream of Polifilo” my previous exhibition at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art during Spring 2014, is also edited.
Comme des Garçons Shirt Automne Hiver 2014/15, Paris Fashion Week
Video by Premices Films
The Hara Museum is proud to present the first solo exhibition at a museum by the rising French artist Nicolas Buffe. Born in Paris and currently based in Tokyo, Buffe creates art that is grand and yet lighthearted, whose influences range from Renaissance grotesques and Baroque ornament to American and Japanese sub-cultures such as manga, anime and video games. His fusion of Eastern and Western traditions both classical and modern has been garnering attention not only within art circles, but also in areas as diverse as opera and fashion. This exhibition pays homage to the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili1, a book published in Venice in 1499. During his first encounter with the book, Buffe was struck by the structural similarity between the story of Polifilo and the initiation quests that he experienced in video games such as Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros and Final Fantasy. Like the book, this exhibition comprises an allegorical dream in which the hero (the visitor) must make it through several stages of an adventure during which he encounters magical objects and images, makes discoveries, plays games and even engages in interactive play through the magic of Augmented Reality (AR)2. Buffe plays on the architectural characteristics of the museum to transform all of its spaces into a wonderland.
Notes: 1. Hypnerotomachia Poliphili: Translated into English as Poliphilo’s Strife of Love in a Dream, this book is the story of Poliphilo who pursues his true love Polia through a dreamlike landscape. The title Hypnerotomachia comes from the Greek hýpnos for ′′dream,′′ éros for ′′love,′′ and máchē for ′′battle.′′ 2. AR: Augmented Reality. An enhanced version of reality produced by the overlaying of digital information onto image data from a camera.
Nicolas Buffe became an overnight sensation as the innovative art director for the opera Orlando Paladino staged at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in 2012. Born in Paris and now based in Tokyo, Buffe creates an that is grand and yet lighthearted with a style that fuses together Japanese and American sub-cultures with classical European aesthetics. For Buffe, love and aspiration, struggle and victory, life and death are universal themes, whether in classical European art or Japanese role-playing video games. They lie at the heart of the present exhibition and the adventures that face the young hero Polifilo within a museum transformed by Buffe‘s rich imagination and Augmented Reality technology into a labyrinth of murals and installations.
Exhibition Details
Title: Nicolas Buffe, The Dream of Polifilo
Dates: April 19 (Saturday) – June 29 (Sunday), 2014
Venue: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art 4-7-25 Kitashinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0001
Tel: 03-3445-0651 E-mail: info@haramuseum.or.jp
Website: http://www.haramuseum.or.jp
Mobile site: http://mobile.haramuseum.or.jp
Blog: http://www.art-it.asia/u/HaraMuseum
Twitter: http://twitter.com/haramuseum (in Japanese only / account name: @haramuseum)
Organized by: Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
Supported by: Embassy of France/Institut français du Japon, Institut français Paris, Centre national du cinéma et de l′image animée – DICRéAM, Fondation Nationale des Arts Graphiques et Plastiques, Fondation Franco-Japonaise Sasakawa
Special sponsorship by: Hermès Japon Co., Ltd.
Sponsored by: Societe Generale, Vranken Pommery Japan
Corporation provided by: YAMAMOTO GENDAI
Hours: 11:00 am – 5:00 pm, Wednesdays until 8:00 pm (last entry 30 minutes before closing)
Closed: Mondays (open on May 5), May 7
Admission: General 1,100 yen; Students 700 yen (high school and university) or 500 yen (elementary and junior high); Free for Hara Museum members, students through high school every Saturday during the school term; 100 yen discount per person for groups of 20 or more
* The admission fee has been revised to reflect the rise in consumption tax effective April 1, 2014.
Directions: 5 minutes by taxi or 15 minutes on foot from JR Shinagawa Station (Takanawa exit); or from the same station take the No.96 bus, get off at the first stop (Gotenyama), and walk 3 minutes
Press release
It was at the invitation of Jean-Luc Choplin that I came to contribute to this opera. He asked me to design the set and costumes for an adaptation of the poem by Ariosto and Haydn’s version which is really interesting. So I jumped enthusiastically into the project, which has allowed me to work with choreographer Kamel Ouali and conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi. The coming together of our three worlds has made for highly stimulating dynamics.
I pondered on how we could present, in 2012, Ariosto’s classic tale of chivalry.
While “Orlando Furioso” is a classic of Italian Renaissance literature, it is also a book of fantastic adventures, bustling with colourful characters and sets.
There is already an international dimension to this poem. The voyage from France to Cathay passes by the moon.
Best Scenic Design of the 2011/12 season awarded by the French critics association
For my artistic work, I like to mix influences from the Renaissance and Baroque periods with today’s pop culture of graphic novels, cartoons and video games. It is through this filter that I approached “Orlando Paladino.”
It’s also a love story that shows the ravages that result from passion in a certain type of personality who, until this point, was not susceptible to this kind of undoing: the paladin of chivalric romances. It’s no doubt because of the originality of Ariosto’s work that it has come down to us with a modern, universal freshness.
To create the sets and costumes for the show, I drew on Japanese pop culture (which heavily influenced my childhood).
The sea scene from the second act gave me occasion to look back at the video games of the 1980s and 90s like “Super Mario” and “Wonder Boy” with their remarkable aesthetics that use vivid colours and a flattening of space in successive, simplistic shots. Orlando confronts a sea monster whose design is inspired by Japanese monster films like Godzilla.
The mix of pop and classic cultures continues: Princess Angelicas’ tower is inspired as much by Pagodas and Buddhist temples as by electricity pylons and images of refineries.
I used references as diverse as “Star Wars” and the sets of French baroque operas to create the set for the grotto of the magician Alcina.
It seems to me that the story of “Orlando Paladino” can still touch today’s spectator thanks to its uni- versal theme of passion-driven madness. Another quality of Haydn’s version is that he was able to treat the theme seriously when necessary, and especially to blend moments of adventure and humour. It is precisely this that accounts for the success of the novels, films and video games that leave their mark on us.
Orchestra conducted by： Jean-Christophe Spinosi
Direction and choreography： Kamel Ouali
Visual direction and dress design： Nicolas Buffe
Orlando : Kresimir Spicer , David Curry
Angelica : Ekaterina Bakanova
Rodomonte : Joan Martin-Royo
Medoro : Pascal Charbonneau
Licone : David Curry, Kresimir Spicer
Eurilla : Raquel Camarinha
Pasquale : Bruno Taddia
Alcina : Anna Goryachova
Caronte : Adam Palka
Characters
Dancers
Set design
Videos / interviews
To see other videos concerning Orlando Paladino, please refer to the Youtube playlist of the Théâtre du Châtelet