Rituel de non-retour, performance de Dalila Dalléas Bouzar

The performance by Dalila Dalléas Bouzar and Bidjé De Rosa, Ritual of No Return, will take place on Friday, May 29, and Saturday, May 30, and will unfold in three parts at La Piste at the Bonnefoy Cultural Center.

Inspired by the history of Spanish exiles, Dalila Dalléas Bouzar has created a collection of works for Le Nouveau Printemps: embroidery, paintings, and performances.

When Dalila Dalléas Bouzar visits Les Abattoirs, Musée - FRAC Occitanie Toulouse, or meets with volunteers at the Toulouse Center for Documentation on the Spanish Exile, the work of the great master comes to mind. Guernica, Picasso, 1937. As massacres of populations unfold in various regions of the world, the memory of the painting looms large. Inspired, the artist travels with Rossy de Palma to the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid to see the work with her own eyes.

The artist envisions the performance, Ritual of No Return, in 2026, as part of her exhibition with Le Nouveau Printemps.

A petite giant wanders through the station district. Reviving the tradition of masks and costumes, drawing inspiration from the figure of the wanderer, Dalila Dalléas Bouzar, dressed in a burnous, appears on a street corner. The stroll continues into the former stables of the Bonnefoy Cultural Center: an imaginary house made of red earth evokes the fundamental need for a home. Exile is also the impossibility of returning home.

For this performance, she wears L’Arche, created in 2023 (velvet, embroidery, beads). This work is a monumental embroidered burnous, designed and created during Dalila Dalléas Bouzar’s residency in Algeria and following her visit to the Tassili rock art site in the Sahara. It will be on display at the Bonnefoy Cultural Center for the duration of the festival.

Dates

- Friday, May 29 at 6:30 PM:
Three performance sessions: 6:30 PM · 7:00 PM · 7:30 PM

- Saturday, May 30 at 6:00 PM:
Three performance sessions: 6:00 PM · 6:30 PM · 7:00 PM

Free admission, subject to availability.

Elements of the performance will then be featured in the exhibition on the mezzanine of the Bonnefoy Cultural Center.

RELATED

- Dalila Dalléas Bouzar’s exhibition, on view at the IPN Artists’ Studio, the José Cabanis Media Library, the Atrium on the garden level, and the Bonnefoy Cultural Center, throughout the festival.