Macha Makeïeff
Zone d'attente nord - Installation - 2024
presented as part of the exhibition Panorama 26
Singular individuals are summoned to some ill-defined place. Instructions, checks, triage and prohibitions, mistrust. Songs again. What exactly are they waiting for?
The moving image remains an enigma for truth. There was a meeting and two days to make it. Unity of place, time and action. Seven characters, a goose, chairs and signs, swinging doors, a grille, telephones. In the distance, noises; on the ceiling, crumbling. An 18-minute mechanical narrative to make you believe in the randomness of the moment. Sequence shot, with bonus. Where is reality?
Another scene and the big eye recording this haunted territory. And the seven across the way, a worried little gang, where are they looking?
It’s a question of fantasy again as hope.
With the memory of the Nickelodeons.
MM
Macha Makeïeff
An author, theatre and opera director, visual artist and set and costume designer, Macha Makeïeff founded the Compagnie Deschamps et Makeïeffwith Jérôme Deschamps*,and in 2000 “Les Films de mon Oncle”to restore and promote the work of Jacques Tati.**They produced Les Deschiensfor Canal+.*Macha Makeïeff invented the Deschiens style, which was to influence fashion. She has staged a number of operas at the Festival Lyrique d’Aix-en-Provence, the Amsterdam Opera, Baden-Baden, Grand Théâtre de Provence, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra Comique, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, etc.She produced the exhibition “*Jacques Tati, 2 Temps 3 Mouvements”at the Cinémathèque Française, “Vestiaire et Défilé,” “Péché-Mignon”*and other performancesat the Fondation Cartier, and *“Beaux Restes”*at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Then, *“Trouble fête, collections curieuses et choses inquiètes”in Avignon, Aix, and Villeurbanne, “Bêtes royales et objets perdus”at the Louvre, “Éblouissante Venise”at the Grand Palais, “Méditation affectueuse et illustrée sur des objets ordinaires” in Toulon,*then with S. Collodiet and the Cirva, “Feux Sacrés.”Macha Makeïeff has published with Editions du Chêne, Séguier, Seuil, Actes Sud-Papier, L'Amour des Choses, Beaux-restes, Inventaire d'un spectacle, Poétique du désastre, and Zone céleste, Bréviaire pour une fin de siècle, Au Chic Deschiens. She founded the review CRI-CRI, published Le Récit Immobilewith Hervé Castanet, wrote for the review Perspective(Raconter) in 2022, and for Musicanimale at the Philharmonie.
Artistic director of the Théâtre de Nîmes from 2003 to 2008, Macha Makeïeff directed La Criée Théâtre National de Marseille from 2011 to 2022. She has staged Les Apaches, Ali Baba, Lumières d'Odessa, Trissotin ou Les Femmes Savantesby Molière, *La Fuite!by Bulgakov, then Lewis versus Aliceat the Festival d’Avignon.*Sheproduced the exhibition Trouble fête, Collections curieuses et Choses inquiètesat the Maison Jean Vilar, and published Zone célestewith Actes Sud. She produced the four-part show Les Âmes offensées: Inuit, Soussou, Massaï, Hadzabased on the notebooks of ethnologist Philippe Geslin. In 2021 she staged TARTUFFE théorèmeby Molière. In 2022, she created the Compagnie MadeMoiselleand designed the costumes for L'Avare (Jérôme Deschamps) and Le Suicidé(Jean Bellorini). In 2024, première of Dom Juanat the TNP Villeurbanne, performed at L’Odéon Théâtre de l'Europe, then on tour. She designed the costumes for Histoire d'un Cid, and ispreparing the “En Piste! Clowns, Pitres et Saltimbanques” exhibitionat the Mucem in Marseille. In 2025, she will be premiering the installation “Fantômes du palais” at the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Her Parisian studio, 7 BIS, is a place for creation, rehearsals, images and archives.
