© EX_SITU
Artist statement
Founded in 2007 in rural southern France by Kate Papi (UK) and Oliviero Papi (IT), OBRA are an international ensemble devising hybrid multidisciplinary and multi-lingual performances, experimental films, audio installations and participative socio-cultural projects.
OBRA’s creative work is rooted in a rigorous technical practice for vocal and physical technique. The company develop their practice and creative approach via research, exchange and collaboration with artists of different disciplines, and through participation and engagement with community groups.
OBRA’s performances and films question our presence and impact upon our community locally and globally, often in relation to questions of heritage. This is not a nostalgic approach but a need to re evaluate the past as a means to imagine the future collectively through an artistic participatory approach.
OBRA’s theatre productions include, Gaudete adapted from Ted Hughes’ poetic novel and Fragments, a bi-lingual stage adaptation of Roland Barthes’ The Lover’s Discourse. The company is comprised of artists from the UK, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden and OBRA’s research explores modes of translation and inter-relations between languages to create hybrid multilingual texts.
OBRA’s most recent theatre creation Ibidem is an example of this, inspired by oral histories from rural communities in their area (32),the performance questions our notion of what home is, what roots us and what our personal and geographic limits are through the prism of the industrialisation of agricultural practices. The performance contains 7 languages, mixes verbatim and original texts to embrace the musicality of words and sound, not just language as a porter of meaning.
OBRA formed the EX_SITU collective in 2017, an ongoing collaborative art and film project between OBRA and the filmmakers at VIDEOfeet (UK). EX_SITU invites communities to (re)discover the abandoned architectural sites of their heritage, exploring the cultural, historical and personal traces found in abandoned or forgotten buildings and asks what impact this can have on shaping collective memory and imagined futures. EX_SITU is a participative project inspired by the particularities of place, creating with diverse groups ranging from professionals to students and community groups to engage in a collaborative process for the creation of the films.
OBRA’s outreach work has an anthropological basis, working from what is discovered through discussion and encounter to create from the specificities of each local context. The company adhere to the notion that through close attention to specificities in relation to the local, or parochial, one can arrive at the universal. They work closely with individuals and groups, predominantly in rural communities and have developed an extensive archive of oral histories and field recordings. The company believe in the capacity for artistic expression, in all forms, to be a vector for the disenfranchised to voice their experiences and concerns. Whether working with youth, adults or mixed groups, OBRA apply the same rigour and standard of artistic excellence to the work which empowers those involved and generates a new form of community and personal pride.
OBRA are the company in residence at the Au Brana Centre, a formerly ruined farm that they converted into residential studio spaces. They regularly share the work of international artists in residence with a local community, and defend the importance of access to high quality work outside of urban centres. OBRA’S specific performer training is shared with both professionals and non-professionals through
workshops at Au Brana and in schools and universities and their pedagogical approach is at the core of their artistic motivation.
OBRA is motivated to create from local context and bring international arts to local community. This two way process is an essential element in their DNA and one of the mission statements of the Au Brana centre is to be a bridge between local, national and international culture.