The Isomo Project by Iris Bouche
Inclusive dance
Bouche has a long-standing relationship with dance. For her training, she moved from Antwerp to Lausanne and New York, later working as a professional dancer in Flanders. In 2011, she exchanged her spot on the stage for one beside it. As a choreographer and dance instructor, Iris now focuses on inclusive dance. She works with both professional and non-professional dancers, young and old, with or without a physical disability. The latter has evolved from dealing with injuries and rehabilitation to approaching physical disability as an artistic choice.
It is fascinating to see how non-professional dancers and dancers with a physical disability engage with movement. It creates a sense of fragility and authenticity.
Dancers Hernán Mancebo, Saïd Gharbi, Anya Senognoeva, and Lilli Proesmans
Dance is like painting
For the choreographer, it is a unique challenge to introduce her familiar medium, dance, into a new world. This time, the world of visual arts and the KMSKA. “For me as a dancer, there is a lot of movement in everyday things. When you structure them in a certain way, you get a choreography. You can also approach a painting in the same way. From an analytical perspective, a painting consists only of shapes, lines, and colors, but it is the way they are combined that, like in a choreography, creates emotions.”
Not only the visual arts, but also the visitors of the KMSKA served as an important source of inspiration for the 'Isomo Project'. For her project, Iris explored how visitors would look, move, and experience the renovated museum.
Collaboration with the KMSKA
For Bouche, the collaboration with the KMSKA is about daring and being able to question things: “As an artist, you are trained to look at something in different ways. That evokes emotions, unleashes something. You also want to encourage your audience to look at things differently. That is how a dialogue emerges.”
Isomopolis by George Smits
Contrasts
For several years, Iris has been moving along with the reopening of the KMSKA and has witnessed the unique evolution from shell construction to today’s result. It has proven to be a highly inspiring process: “The historic section and the new section of the museum are very contrasting, yet they cannot exist without each other.
“In the 'Isomo Project', I have very concretely explored that contrast by working with a music installation by George Smits from the 1980s. On one hand, the installation contrasts with the new 'Light' Gallery. On the other hand, a contrast arises because Joris Caluwaerts, Kobe Proesmans, and Aarich Jespers (The Colorist) create new sound compositions using rough, everyday materials.
“That same contrast will also be reflected between the choreography—which forms the foundation of the project—and the dynamics that the different dancers bring to it.”
