Myriam Lefkowitz

Welcomed by Myriam and five dancers, spectators are asked to lie down on mattresses in a darkened room and close their eyes. On the floor are blankets, pillows, various kinds of fabric and some smaller, harder objects. In the course of the experience these objects and substances will make tactile and auditory contact with the people lying down, while allowing no clear identification of the source, duration or number of the sensory stimulations at work. 

Initially intended for one spectator and one dancer during a research residency at the Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers in 2014–2015, Can you really be sure when it's this dark? began its process of change during a research period at La Galerie Centre for Contemporary Art in Noisy-le-Sec last June. Extended to include a group of dancers and spectators, it has enabled an investigation into the collective implications of our sensory, perceptual and attentive systems when they undergo modification.

This research residency at the Ferme du Buisson sets out not only to broaden the temporal and spatial scope of the practice – via a continuous 6-hour cycle in the Halle (the former barn/stable) – but also to extend the exploration of the relationship between seeing, touching and imagining.

Myriam Lefkowitz will develop this research further within her commission for "If I Can't Dance's VII (2017–2018), Social Movement". Et sait-on jamais dans une obscurité pareille? by Myriam Lefkowitz and her residency at La Ferme du Buisson are commissioned and produced in partnership with If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution, as part of Corpus, network for performance practice. Corpus is Bulegoa z/b (Bilbao), CAC (Vilnius), KW (Berlin), If I Can’t Dance (Amsterdam), Playground (STUK & M, Leuven), and Tate Modern (London). Corpus is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

with the backing of DRAC Ile-de-France - Ministère de la culture et de la communication and Conseil régional d'Ile-de-France