"Statue of Loss" by Faustin Linyekula at the Pantheon

At the Pantheon, on June 25th and 26th, the Congolese performer and choereographer Faustin linyekula will evoke the memory of soldiers from his conutry, the curent Democratic Republic of the Congo, fallen during the First World War, in the play "Statue of Loss", as part of "Monuments in movement" and in partnership with the Théâtre de la Ville.

To know more, visit the website of the Centre des monuments nationaux.

About Faustin Linyekula (RDC) :

Born to a practising Catholic father, Faustin Linyekula grew up between two families after his parents separated and his mother remarried to a Muslim. a Muslim. When he was born, his country was called Zaire and he himself was called Linyekula Ngoy, western names being forbidden by Mobutu, but in 1997 Zaire became the DRC and Faustin But in 1997 Zaire became the DRC and Faustin was able to put his real name on his papers. At home, he speaks Swahili, but French at school. At the age of fifteen, he took his first acting classes at the at the French Cultural Centre and thought of enrolling in university, which turned out to be impossible. impossible. He then did theatre as a dilettante to earn money. In 1993, Faustin Linyekula moved to Kenya where he started contemporary dance. In 1997, he co-founded the Gaara Company, the first contemporary dance company in Kenya. dance company in Kenya, focusing on traditional dance and funeral rites. rites. Returning to Congo in 2001, he settled in Kinshasa and founded the Studios Kabako, a training and creation structure for visual theatre and dance. There he created 'Spectacularly Empty' (2001), 'Untitled Triptych' (2002) and Spectacularly Empty II' (2003). Si c'est un nègre/autoportrait', a solo created for the dancer Sylvain dancer Sylvain Prunenec, was presented in Avignon in 2003. Faustin Linyekula returned in 2007 with in 2007 with 'Dinozord: The Dialogue Series III', a piece combining dance, theatre, music and and video, as well as 'The Festival of Lies', inspired by a novel by Luis Sepulveda. In 2009, he was invited to stage Racine's 'Bérénice' for the Comédie-Française. The play was later revived at the Théâtre de Gennevilliers.

About the Centre des monuments nationaux :

The Centre des Monuments Nationaux is the leading public and cultural tourism operator in France, with near 10 million visitors per year. It conserves and opens to visitors exceptional sites, whose diversity illustrates the wealth of French heritage. Based on an adapted tariff policy, the CMN facilitates the discovery of monumental heritage for the widest possible public. With a self-financing level of more than 85%, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux’s system of equalisation of resources enables it to promote solidarity between different regional territories. The monuments that benefit from this system enable cultural and scientific initiatives to be conducted within the entire network of the CMN. Moreover, the CMN is currently conducting restoration projects with the aim of opening the Hôtel de la Marine to the public in 2021 and the Château de Villers-Cotterêts by 2022. The CMN is also asserting itself as a leader in the application of digital technology to the world of heritage. It reasserted its determination to be at the centre of innovation through the creation of the Heritage Incubator in 2018, bringing cultural public services ever closer to different audiences’ expectations.