Artist portrait, Tiago Rodrigues

This new programming by France Culture in the Cour du Musée Calvet is based on the idea that literature, poetry, and theatre are not only weapons but also a way to distance oneself, to “disorient” oneself from current events. “A great writer must dare venture out like Don Quixote,” says Enrique Vila-Matas, special guest for this programme. The audience is therefore invited to a wild ride alongside some emblematic works, in the language of Cervantès but also in that of Diderot. With humour and whimsy, guaranteed.

Portrait d'acteur by Mohamed El Khatib

In the presence of Tiago Rodrigues.

At the invitation of France Culture, Mohamed El Khatib has launched a series of portraits of artists who have left their mark on the theatre or cinema in 2019. After the portrait of Éric Elmosnino, subsequently published by Les Solitaires intempestifs, we asked him to write and present a new, previously unpublished portrait. Together we decided to extend the invitation to Tiago Rodrigues.

"The division of theatrical labour generates a lot of intermediaries between a thought, its formulation and its stage translation. But sometimes, for better or for worse, artists write, direct and perform. In a previous portrait, I confessed that I distrusted actors, and I would have to add that I distrust directors just as much, and playwrights even more...".
Mohamed El Khatib

Author, director and visual artist Mohamed El Khatib develops projects at the crossroads of performance, literature and cinema. Through intimate and social epics, he creates opportunities for encounters between art and those who are far removed from it. After Moi, Corinne Dadat, which invited a cleaning lady and a ballet dancer to take stock of their skills, he continued his exploration of the working class with the monumental piece Stadium, which brought 58 Racing Club de Lens supporters to the stage. With the children of divorced parents, he asked himself́ on the radio and screen about what the family can produce as a narrative. With historian Patrick Boucheron, he drew a popular history of art through the snow globe. Alongside his projects for the stage, Mohamed El Khatib has developed́ a plastic research in collaboration with several artists. In Savoie, alongside Valérie Mréjen, he initiated́ the creation of the first art centre in Ehpad. At the Collection Lambert in Avignon, he imagined́ a sentimental exhibition by bringing together curators from the Abbé-Pierre Foundation and museum staff. At Mucem, he created the monumental Renault 12 exhibition, inspired by the car journeys of Franco-Maghrebi families. Mohamed El Khatib is an associate artist at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Théâtre National de Bretagne and the Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Text by Mohamed El Khatib
In the presence of Tiago Rodrigues
Directed by Louise Loubrieu
Assistant director Justine Dibling