October 13, 2023–November 9, 2024
The innovative red bridge project was initiated in 2017 and is designed to build bridges—on the one hand, between three cultural institutions in Luxembourg located on both sides of the “Red Bridge” connecting the city centre with the Kirchberg district; on the other hand, also between artistic disciplines, audiences and different social groups. Promoting the exploration of new working methods, this project enables each of our institutions to expand its boundaries. After Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker in 2017–18 and William Kentridge in 2020–21, the third edition opens a new dimension under the leadership of the Samoan-New Zealand artist Lemi Ponifasio. His vision is to invite the diversity of Luxembourg communities to this red bridge project, working with his company MAU and the three institutions in dialogue and the creation of new art.
A collaboration between Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Mudam Luxembourg—Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean and Philharmonie Luxembourg
Lemi Ponifasio
The Samoan-New Zealand director and choreographer Lemi Ponifasio is known for his radical theatrical “cosmovision” and his collaborations with communities and indigenous cultures. Ponifasio founded MAU in 1995 as the philosophical foundation and essence of his work, the name he gives to his work and also to the people and communities he works with. MAU is a Samoan word meaning “declaration of truth of a matter as an effort to transform.”
Events
October 13 and 14, 2023, 8pm CEST: Jerusalem
Grand Théâtre
Jerusalem is the opening production of the third red bridge project, performed by Lemi Ponifasio’s MAU Company. A utopia between ideal and reality, life and death, beauty and malice, freedom and control, love and hatred, eternally suspended under the shadow of divine archetypes that patrol the nature of human life on Earth. Minimalist, ritualistic, Jerusalem is amplified by Māori song poetry and the epic Arabic Concerto Al Quds by the Syrian poet Adonis.
February 2 and 3, 2024, 8pm CEST: Love to Death
Grand Théâtre
Lemi Ponifasio created Love to Death with MAU Mapuche—the company he founded in Chile in 2013. The work transcends conventional ideas of theatre, dance and activism and raises topics such as the reality of the Mapuche people, the relationship between people and nature, the female being and the balance of power. Two women, Mapuche singer-composer Elisa Avendaño Curaqueo and contemporary flamenco dancer Natalia García-Huidobro perform a work that reflects both the country’s history and the search for its future.
June 14, 2024, 7:30pm CEST: Sea Beneath The Skin
Philharmonie
Reflecting upon the words of the late Kiribati poetess and activist Teresia Teaiwa, Sea Beneath The Skin creates a ceremonial performance with the Luxembourg Philharmonic and Kiribati performers, whose homeland is experiencing the devastating impact of climate change. The work invokes the life of our collective body and our communion with world beyond humanity, and juxtaposes Pacific traditional rituals with Gustav Mahler’s Song of the Earth in an emotional human outcry.
June 29: The Manifestation
Mudam
Bringing together the multiple communities that represent the place, the life and the culture of Luxembourg, The Manifestation is an epic performance event that will count with the participation of over 150 people. Going beyond the physical spaces of the institutions, this event brings us together through movement, dance, music and food, inviting us to celebrate together. The Manifestation will start in front of the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg; the performance parade will proceed across the Red Bridge and via the Philharmonie Luxembourg concluding at the Mudam grounds.
November 9, 2024, 7:30pm: Credo—I Believe
Philharmonie
Credo is a statement of our belief, derived from the Latin for “I believe.” It will be the finale of this edition of the red bridge project and signals the end of a journey to reconnect, express, activate and foster our spirit of coming together as a community. It is a call to the community to come together to seek new insights. Striving to find clarity and give form to the feelings we are experiencing on this increasingly crisis-saturated planet.
Complete programme: redbridgeproject.lu
