Ne Mobliez Mie (2023)

After a thorough renovation of almost three years, Gaasbeek Castle is once again opening its doors to the public. For this reopening, theater company FC Bergman was asked to work with the many stories connected to the castle. FC Bergman became fascinated by Marquise Arconati Visconti, the last owner of the castle, who died exactly a century ago. Marquise Arconati Visconti, born Marie Peyrat, was a society figure in fin de siècle Paris. But at Gaasbeek Castle - which she converted into a neo-Renaissance fairy-tale castle - she came to rest. Many photographs of the marquise have survived, including a series of portraits in which she poses as a medieval boy. Seemingly careless, reading or dreaming at the window, but unmistakably staged. These portraits express a great nostalgia, an intense longing for other lives and other times. EXPO NE MOBLIEZ MIE, EXERCISES IN SELF-PRESERVATION The Marquise's photo series inspired FC Bergman to create a number of short films set in and around the castle. Residuals from these film sets remain here and there, entering into dialogue with their surroundings. Together with the film projections, they take you into a meditation around an unnamed woman who, like the marquise, is skilled in shapeshifting. Thus she spins a web of alternative identities around herself. Does she want to lose herself? Or is she just trying to ensure her existence? THEATER NE MOBLIEZ MIE, REVUE OF LOST VIGNETTES Following the exhibition at the castle, FC Bergman will continue working with this material at Toneelhuis, which will be the starting point for an evening of dialogue between film and theater.