Major Writer-Artist Frankétienne in Scotland, 17-21 March 2014
Friday 21 March, Glasgow: Performance of Chaophonies; Tuesday 18 March, Edinburgh: Meet Frankétienne, Screening, Q&A Haiti’s major writer and artist Frankétienne is coming to Scotland 17-21 March 2014. Two events in Glasgow and Edinburgh will showcase the outstanding visual, verbal, dramatic, and acoustic art of Frankétienne.
Tuesday 18 March 2014, 5pm, University of Edinburgh : Join us for a special screening of a haunting film followed by a Q&A session with Frankétienne, star of the film. Evoking the aftermath of Haiti’s killer earthquake of 12 January 2010, the film (Une étrange Cathédrale dans la graisse des ténèbres, dir. Charles Najman) was shot in the earthquake rubble of the ruined Cathedral of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city. Renaissance man of Caribbean letters and arts, Frankétienne is a one -man cultural phenomenon, producing monstrously genre-defying works, rich in visually and acoustically displays of creativity. Here, Frankétienne conveys the mind-boggling devastation and chaos of the broken city of Port-au-Prince, and its symbolic Cathedral in ruins. Shot in November 2010 to coincide with the Haitian Festival of the Dead, this requiem honours the more than 200,000 earthquake dead. This is a free event and the location is to be confirmed. Frankétienne will be introduced and the Q&A session led by Dr Rachel Douglas, author of the first book on Frankétienne’s work, Frankétienne and Rewriting: A Work in Progress . For further information, please contact Professor Marion Schmid ([email protected]) or Dr Rachel Douglas ([email protected]).
Friday 21 March 2014, 6 p.m., Alliance française Glasgow, Grande Salle : Electrifying performance of Chaophonies–a dramatic reading of work by Frankétienne, accompanied by original music composed by Glasgow-born and Haiti-based musician Mark Mulholland. Acoustically, with a cacophony of voices rising out of the work, sound is used to echo the reverberations of the goudou goudou–the Haitian name for the killer earthquake of 12 January 2010, so-called because of the terrible earth-shattering noise it made. What can the role of art be in a time of disaster? Chaophonies heralds great changes, metamorphoses for Haiti to emerge phoenix-like out of the rubble. A magician with word, image, sound, and more, Frankétienne uses this work to present visions of great changes, and of Haiti emerging phoenix-like out of the rubble. Tickets are free, but strictly limited and going fast, so please contact as soon as possible the Alliance Française Glasgow on 0141 331 4080 or by sending an email to: [email protected]
