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The Bloc

Tuesday 04 of May

The Bloc was born in autumn 2003 when a text by Joris Lacoste met a collective exercise that often involved several of us racing to a public speaking engagement. Sometimes the race was easy, but speaking proved more difficult. Speaking together, in other words, not at the same time, but each for the whole, without any premeditated order, and with flexibility and openness, sometimes ended up being a chaotic endeavor. We had to learn to improvise a type of speech we could make up as we went along. We had to learn how to speak like we run through the streets, in packs.

The rather heterogeneous group which founded the Bloc in the Autumn of 2003, had initially planned to write a text. Most participants were fed up running races like they run their mouths, and running their mouths like they run races. The question put forth by the text was answered by placing a row of five chairs behind five microphones; having five people sit in these chairs; talking in five voices about a subject they knew nothing about; and discovering it in the process. The Bloc doesn't require any particular method; it demands only a penchant for platitude, a liking for lower limits, a strong stomach, and a certain aptitude for letting go. The Bloc is the enemy of the snappy idea, the solo, the crowd-stopper. It resists premeditation and, in general, any attempt at managing, pinning down, or owning the discourse. The Bloc is a stable apparatus that produces an unstable discourse. The Bloc is an apparatus that protects you against the fear of the void, the need to shine, the desire for distinction, and the awareness of class. The Bloc is sufficiently brief to hold up to performance conditions. The Bloc doesn't stand for anything and prevents you, as long as you follow a few simple rules, from standing for anything at all. The Bloc is an impromptu conference that works toward constructing a collective statement.

Since 2003, the Bloc has undergone different waves of activity interspersed with periods of silence. It's been useful in making decisions, producing performance texts, negotiating difficult-to-obtain concessions, writing critical texts and, quite simply, for it's own sake. It has been aired in public, set up in the halls of government, made use of during student or performing arts workshops. It's been presented as a performance (to be watched) or as an open apparatus (to be tried out). Anyone can try it, it only requires to be played attending to a few formal rules:

Rules of the Bloc game

  1. The Bloc collectively elaborates a discourse addressed to an audience.
  2. The Bloc is initiated when the five chairs are filled by any audience members.
  3. The Bloc starts with "Hello" and ends with "Thank you."
  4. The discourse is made up of brief statements pronounced by the players in no particular order.
  5. One statement can never oppose another.
  6. The Bloc says "we" rather than "I."
  7. The players never talk amongst themselves.
  8. The discourse's theme is never determined ahead of time. It always starts with the present situation. In other words, the first statements addressed to the audience must concern a reality shared by all.
  9. Each statement, in one way or another, extends from those that preceded it.
  10. The Bloc refrains from bringing in ideas unrelated to the discourse.
  11. The Bloc refrains from talking about itself.
  12. The Bloc does not fear silences.
  13. A player is required to stay seated until the end of the Bloc, except in case of irreparable disagreement with what is said. If that occurs, the player leaves the Bloc and the vacant spot may be filled by any other audience member.
  14. One round lasts 20 minutes. A heads-up is given to the Bloc 15 minutes after the first "Hello."
  15. The Bloc is deactivated when all the players say "Thank you" and return to the audience.

► you can download the PDF with the french transcription of "Salle des paris des stagiaires" bloc du dimanche 24 novembre 2004.

 

W was born in 2003 out of a project on the conditions of collective verbalization in an improvisational setting (Bloc, Centre Choréographique, Tours). That work was followed by another project, in which Joris Lacoste and Jeanne Revel collaborated with Joao Fiadeiro on his method of Composition in Real Time (CND, 2004). It has since evolved on its own.

In practical terms, W has run various hands-on sessions with actors: in 2006, at the Théâtre National de la Colline and at Cip-Idf, and in 2008-9, at Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers. W helped develop Joris Lacoste's performance, Purgatory, at the Théâtre National de la Colline in 2007. In addition, W has organized several research seminars: in 2005-2006, at the University of Paris III in collaboration with the Théâtre de la Colline; in 2007-2008, at the Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers, in partnership with the University of Paris 8's Department of Dance and the Masters Stage Directing Program at Paris 10; and, in 2008-2009, in partnership with the review Art21. From 2007 to 2009, W was in residency at the Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers. From 2008 on, W held W-Games at various festivals and art centers (Printemps de Septembre à Toulouse, Bétonsalon in Paris, 3bisf in Aix-en-Provence, Villa Arson in Nice).