La Flèche et l'Eléphant
Ictus Ensemble, Ann Eysermans, Myriam Pruvot and Fritz Hauser.
This spectacular event, which EUROPALIA developed together with Ictus Ensemble on the occasion of EUROPALIA TRAINS & TRACKS, will pay tribute to the first passenger train ride on the European continent that took place on 5 May 1835, between Brussels and Mechelen. The public is invited to board a private train in Brussels to the Central Workshop in Mechelen.
Practical info for ticketholders WITH train:
- Please be present at 17u15 sharp for the ticket control at the stairs of platform 3 at Schaarbeek station.
(If you miss the private train, you will have to buy a train ticket for a regular train to Mechelen.) - At the ticket control you will be divided into 2 groups (blue and red). For the organisation of the event it is necessary that you stay with your group. If you would like to be in the same group with certain people, you will have to present yourself together with those people at the ticket control.
- The event at the Central Workshop will last until 21:15.
- For those taking the same scheduled train back to Schaarbeek: please follow the group to Mechelen station. The train leaves at 21h58 precisely from platform 11. Arrival in Schaarbeek is foreseen at 22h12.
Practical info for ticketholders WITHOUT train:
- Please be present at 18:20 sharp for the ticket control at the entrance of the Centrale Werkplaats. At the back of the train station in Mechelen, past the last tracks, you walk (carefully) up the cycle path (F1) to the left and you will arrive right at the entrance.
- At the ticket control you will be divided into 2 groups (blue and red). For the organisation of the event it is necessary that you stay with your group. If you would like to be in the same group with certain people, you will have to present yourself together with those people at the ticket control.
- The event at the Central Workshop will last until 21:15.
Tips:
- Coming by car? You can enter the underground station car park via Motstraat.
- Are you coming by bicycle? You can reach the covered bicycle parking via Hanswijkvaart.
- We advise you to wear comfortable shoes; the distance between the performances is covered on foot. Please do not wear heels.
- We advise you to check the weather forecast: part of the performances will take place in the open air, part in little heated hangars.
- On the site of the Central Workshop, you are not allowed to move around freely and you must always stay with the group.
- It is best to provide something to eat before or after the event; there are no eating or drinking facilities on site.
- Smoking is prohibited during the entire event.
For this occasion, this huge industrial site, where trains and train parts are built and restored, servicing Belgium's railway network, opens its doors for the first time. Visitors are invited on an artistic voyage full of extraordinary audio and visual performances by contemporary artists such as Ictus Ensemble, Ann Eysermans, Myriam Pruvot and Fritz Hauser. In collaboration with Europalia, Ictus Ensemble, NMBS, Mechelen Central Workshop, ChampdAction.
ATTENTION:
>> tickets with timing 17:15 are with train tickets
>> tickets with timing 18:20 are without train tickets (you come with your own transportation to Mechelen!)
With:
Ictus Ensemble | Ann Eysermans | Myriam Pruvot | Fritz Hauser.
Ictus Ensemble brings the impressive “Ballet Mécanique”. A companion to the ultra-machine-like approach of George Antheil, the self-proclaimed "Bad Boy of Music" of the 20th century. Ballet Mécanique (1924), the original version which Ictus will re-enact (slightly revamped), was an attempt by the American composer George Antheil, the painter Fernand Léger, and the director Dudley Murphy to offer a multimedia experience before there was even a name for it. Ictus will propose the original idealistic and madly startling version of 1924. Stravinsky's dissonance stretched to the limit, the unflagging repetition, the chemistry at work in the machine-like heavy-handedness and the lightning speed – all of these ingredients succeed in making the Ballet Mécanique a wholly unique work in the history of the 20th century.
From the ashes of Ballet Mécanique rises 'Bezel', a work by Mario Garuti for two double bass recorders: futuristic-looking instruments, as if designed to reveal the performers’ breathing and moving bodies.
And finally you will experience Gordon Monahan’s kinetic performance 'Speaker Swinging'. First performed in 1982, the performance is an experiment for nine swinging loudspeakers, audio oscillators and LED lights, set in rotation by the performers in a particuliar “athletic gesture. The idea comes from hearing such things as Leslie speakers, moving vehicles with broadcasting sound systems, airplanes, and other moving sound sources, both industrial and organic. The subsequent acoustical processes of phasing, vibrato, and tremolo are fundamental to the work, as are the elements of sweat, struggle, fear, and seduction.
The immersive performance “Schraffur” by the Swiss composer Fritz Hauser is based on the “scratching” of various objects and tools found in the workshops of Mechelen. A mix of percussion and scratched sounds will be created by a large group of participants, resulting in a special soundscape inspired by the sound-universe of trains.
Arriving on the site, you will be guided to Ann Eysermans’s unique site specific performance: 'a prelude for 2 diesel locomotives and harp'. This line-up may at first seem incompatible and strange to you. But opposites attract. Two train drivers conjure up the impressive and nostalgic sounds of the HLD 5404 and HLD 6041 locomotives. The sounds of locomotives idling, and those of compressors and air escaping as well as the roaring transition to a higher speed are all part of their sonic potential. The harp interacts with fragile micro sounds, solid chords and circular movements to create a remarkable counterpoint and melodious interweaving of sound.
Myriam Pruvot | 4 E.M.M.A.s
During the train ride, you will be accompanied by a sound performance by Myriam Pruvot. By using the various announcement “voices” of the NMBS, Pruvot has created a new narrative to lead you into a sonic voyage to Mechelen.
Location
Station Schaarbeek
Pr. Elisabethplein 5
1030 Schaarbeek
België
Ingang Centrale Werkplaats
At the back of the train station in Mechelen
2800 Mechelen
België
