On Saturday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Oct. 20, songwriter and rocker Kim Gordon and Dean of The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance Dimitri Chamblas teamed up for an experimental performance in one of Paris’ most venerated museums.
Gordon and Chamblas performed in Room 800 at the Musée du Louvre on Saturday, Oct. 19, bringing audiences an “immersive, open-ended journey” through experimental and intimate performance. Chamblas provides a kinesthetic dimension to the collaboration, dancing to, around and with Gordon as she sang or played guitar. The pair’s second performance took place at the American Center for Art and Culture in Paris on Sunday, Oct. 20.
The performances were part of the 2019 Parades for FIAC (Foire internationale d’art contemporain), an international contemporary art and performance fair that was founded in 1974 in Paris. With more than 200 exhibitors, the annual fair seeks to “broaden the range and scope of the venues made available to galleries and artists, thus making the intimate experience of creation accessible to the widest possible audience.”
The parades, currently in their fourth edition, offer performances and dialogues at various iconic Parisian venues, including the aforementioned Louvre and American Center, as well as the Palais de la découverte, the Petit Palais, the Musée de l’Orangerie, the Centre Pompidou and the Musée d’Orsay.
Gordon and Chamblas previously collaborated in October 2018 as part of actor and artist Francesca Gabbiani’s exhibition at the Gavlak Gallery in Los Angeles. The pair also performed this past March as part of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s (SPCO) Liquid Music Series at the American Swedish Institute’s historic Turnblad Mansion in Minneapolis.
Gordon is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and visual artist probably best known as the former frontwoman of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Heralded by The New Yorker as “one of the boldest women in rock,” she is credited as a pioneer of underground indie music. Gordon released her first solo album of her career, No Home Record, earlier this month.