Debating and discovering the art of performance and the storytelling demanded in everyday life, the Biennale de Lyon joins together nine international artists, rarely seen in France, in a non-stop programme of events. Endeavouring to discover the particular ways in which performance artists recreate and re-envisage gestures, happenings and statements embedded in human behaviour, the Biennale de Lyon asks the question of what such artistry and artifice reveals to the world. Guest-curated by Gunnar B. Kvaran, the weekend of events will see interviews and discussions working through these probing questions, all overseen by art critic Jean-Max Colard.

Contemporaneity and performance will be the topic of exploration in three one-hour interviews with Marie de Brugerolles, art historian and professor at the École Nationale des Beaux- Arts de Lyon and literature professors, Lionel Ruffel and Pierre Bayard, from Paris VIII University. Meanwhile, the other nine artists that make up the biennale – Xavier Cha, Mette Edvardsen, Rana Hamadeh, Louise Hervé & Chloé Maillet, Alice Lescanne & Sonia Derzypolski, Georgia Sagri, Helga Wretman, Paulo Nazareth and Donna Kukama- will be discussing how their own art reflects elements of performance that take place in various aspects of life.

Whimsical lectures, a coaching session, an exercise in conceptual meditation, a form-changing artwork and slightly offbeat guided tours will also punctuate the weekend’s exploration of playing up and playing out selves in the theatre of society.

Biennale de Lyon , 19 October, macLYON, 81 quai Charles de Gaulle, 69006 Lyon and 20 October , la Sucrière, Les Docks, 49-50 quai Rambaud, 69002 Lyon.

Credits
1. Louise Blowing a Bubble, 2011, courtesy of the Biennale de Lyon and Roe Ethridge.