BMW Tate Live 2015 programme officially started. Boris Charmatz’ “If Tate Modern was Musée de la danse?” on May 15 and 16.

London. This weekend, Tate Modern was temporarily transformed into Musée de la danse (the dancing museum) led by renowned French dancer and choreographer Boris Charmatz as part of BMW Tate Live. On May 15 and 16, Charmatz’s team of around 90 dancers took over Tate Modern with an unfolding series of performances around the building. Now in its fourth year, BMW Tate Live is a major partnership between BMW and Tate which focuses on performance and interdisciplinary art in the gallery and online, exploring the diverse ways in which artists approach live performance in the 21st century. 

During the Musée de la danse take-over of Tate Modern, dance was performed, displayed and disseminated all over the building, presenting individual works but also highlighting the ‘found’ choreography of everyday activity. Major dance works by Charmatz were staged in the Turbine Hall, while dancers were also dispersed throughout the collection displays and a live exhibition invited artists and theorists to perform and share ideas on what a museum of dance might be. 

Programme:

Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall featured a succession of works which were set up, performed and dismantled. A public warm up gave way to some of Charmatz’s major choreographic works. These presentations were interwoven with the teaching of choreography to the audience. Musée de la danse’s regular workshop format, “Adrénaline” – a dance floor that is open to everyone – was staged as a temporary nightclub complete with disco ball, emerging as part of this changing space. The Turbine Hall’s public space constantly transformed from the dance lesson to performance, from participation to party, and from a performance’s set-up to its take-down and set-up again. 

The work of other international choreographers and artists was also explored throughout the galleries. “expo zero”, a Musée de la danse project which had never been realised in London, was a performative exhibition in which performers, artists and theorists discuss and enact their ideas of what a museum of dance could be. The audience was invited to watch and join these discussions, led by such figures as Tim Etchells, Mette Ingvartsen, Claire Bishop and Sung Hwan Kim. Throughout the galleries “20 Dancers for the XXth Century” explored the history of dance, from ballet to hip hop, as dancers of all genres encountered the art in Tate Modern’s galleries. Visitors were able to follow these performers throughout the re-imagined collection displays from a choreographic perspective. 

As part of this transformation from Tate Modern to Musée de la danse, performances on Saturday 16 May were live-streamed from the gallery at tate.org.uk/dancingmuseum. Both online and offline audiences were asked ‘how would you imagine a museum of dance’, inviting anyone in the world to take part in the action by sending in their thoughts using the hashtag #dancingmuseum. 

Running order  

Turbine Hall, Level 0
12.00  Public warm-up with Boris Charmatz (60 min)

13.30  À bras-le-corps (35 min)
14.15  Levée des conflits - solos (30 min)
14.45  Levée des conflits - visitors version (50 min)
15.45  Levée des conflits (90 min)
17.15  Adrénaline: a dance floor for everyone (60 min)

18.15  Roman Photo with London-based volunteers
18.45  Adrénaline: a dance floor for everyone (90 min)
20.15  manger (dispersed) (60 min)

Throughout Collection Galleries, Level 2 and 4
13.00  20 Dancers for XX Century (5 hours)

Joiners Galleries, Level 2
13.00  expo zéro (5 hours) 

BMW Tate Live: If Tate Modern was Musée de la danse? was a collaboration between Catherine Wood, Curator, Contemporary Art & Performance, Tate Modern; Capucine Perrot, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern; Boris Charmatz, Director, Musée de la danse / Centre chorégraphique national de Rennes et de Bretagne; Martina Hochmuth, Director of Productions and the Musée de la danse team.

Boris Charmatz

Boris Charmatz originally trained at the Paris Opera Ballet and has been challenging preconceived notions of dance for over 20 years. In 2009 Charmatz became director of the Centre choréographique national de Rennes et de Bretagne in France, which he renamed Musée de la danse. His concept of a museum as the framing device for dance – the most ephemeral of cultural forms – redefines the very notions of museum and collection. For more information, please visit museedeladanse.org 

BMW Tate Live
BMW Tate Live is a long-term partnership between BMW and Tate that features innovative live performances and events including live web broadcast, in-gallery performance, seminars and workshops. BMW Tate Live aims to reach an international audience through new forms of art, addressing audiences’ changing needs, tastes and interests in art. The initiative creates a new space for collaboration and a programme that encompasses performance, film, sound, installation and learning – areas where artists can take greater risks and experiment freely. The programme investigates transformation in all its guises and aims to provoke debate on how art can affect intellectual, social and physical change. For more information, please visit tate.org.uk/bmwtatelive 

BMW’s Cultural Commitment

For over 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in more than 100 cultural partnerships worldwide. The focus of this long-term commitment to culture is modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design. BMW has worked with artists such as Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim and Anna Netrebko and commissioned architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelbau. In London, BMW in partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra, hosts the BMW LSO Open Air Classics, a yearly live concert free of charge in Trafalgar Square, and supports Frieze Art Fair. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted – as this is just as essential for groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business.  

Further information: bmwgroup.com/culture and  bmwgroup.com/culture/overview

The BMW Group

With its three brands BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 30 production and assembly facilities in 14 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

 In 2014, the BMW Group sold approximately 2.118 million cars and 123,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2014 was approximately € 8.71 billion on revenues amounting to € 80.40 billion. As of 31 December 2014, the BMW Group had a workforce of 116,324 employees. 

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. 

www.bmwgroup.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BMWGroup

Twitter: http://twitter.com/BMWGroup

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BMWGroupview

Google+: http://googleplus.bmwgroup.com

For further questions please contact:

Dr. Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs

Head of Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49-89-382-24753

Internet:  www.press.bmwgroup.com

Mail: presse@bmw.de

Duncan Holden
Press Officer, Tate
Telephone: +44-20-7887-4939
E-mail: pressoffice@tate.org.uk