Associate Artists-in-Residence
3-year artistic residency
In 2018, the Kulturfabrik launched the “Artiste-Associé en résidence” project. This is a three-year residency, aimed at artists looking to become professional or established artists who are at a turning-point in their career and requiring support over several years. The aim of the project is to place an emphasis on artistic creation, on supporting emerging artists and pushing the boundaries of the notion of a creative artist residency and networking.
The “Associate Artist in Residence” is based on three pillars:
> Support
> Creative support
> Research and experimentation
When the first such residency ended in 2021, with the departure of associate artists in residence Sandy Flinto and Pierrick Grobéty, the mantle passed to Sacha Hanlet (see photo above), who will benefit from this long-term support to develop his solo project: Them Lights. His residency started in March 2021 and will end in March 2024. During these three years, Hanlet has the chance to develop his project from start to finish (writing, composition, visual identity, stage design, etc.).
The self-taught artist Sacha Hanlet is Associate Artist Residency at the Kulturfabrik from 2021 to 2024, allowing him to develop his solo project: Them Lights.
His residency started officially on 15 March 2021 and will end on 14 March 2024. During these three years, and thanks to the coaching and support from the Kulturfabrik team and its partners, Hanlet has the chance to develop his project from start to finish (writing, composition, visual identity, stage design, etc.).
A member of the group Mutiny on the Bounty for 17 years, Hanlet is a regular at Kufa, because he has been rehearsing there for 16 years. Born in 2017, Them Lights boasts five singles (and three video clips) in its discography: Got No, Yesterday, Mysterious Lights, Crimson Walls, Feeling Good (as a duo with Faruk). The music of Them Lights is a clever mix of pop, electro beats and avant-garde R’n’B, simultaneously dark and groovy.
Aged 40, his hope is that this residency will finally allow him to commit the maximum time to his creation, and to professionalise and perfect his project: from writing to staging, and also including visual identity. Extended periods of research, experimentation and creation (lighting, lyrics, sounds, clips, etc.) will therefore enable him to hone his artistic language.
Hanlet sees Them Lights as a global artistic project. The music, the visuals, the lighting and the sound are all interdependent. In the staged set, the “audience should live a real experience and feel transported by the sound, the lights and the various elements of the staging”. Familiar with being involved in all aspects of musical production and creation, Hanlet – who is also an event technician – hopes to pursue his holistic vision of the music as far as it can be taken. It’s worth adding that documenting the project (via videos, photos, texts, etc.) will be an important element of his work at the Kulturfabrik.
Sandy Flinto and Pierrick Grobéty were the first Associate Artists at the Kulturfabrik. Their residency ran from 2018 to 2021.
Since 2012, the two multidisciplinary artists have charted a course between the plastic arts and live shows. Their leitmotif is experimentation in the various areas of artistic expression. Together, they have put their names to numerous projects, ranging from installations, videos, performances, theatre and contemporary dance, thereby uniting sound and vision.
Sandy Flinto, who lives and works between France and Luxembourg, is a graduate in the plastic arts and show disciplines from the Academy of Arts in Ravenna (Italy). She rounded off her artistic research by training at the Laboratory of Physical Theatre (Laboratoire de théâtre physique, LFPT) in Paris. Initially attracted by the subject, she fairly quickly became drawn to focus on installations, video and performance. Inspired by image theatre, documentary theatre and contemporary dance, she stages their own pieces, which she co-writes and for which she realises the scenography.
Pierrick Grobéty was born in Switzerland, grew up in Rwanda and now lives between France and Luxembourg. His career path started with learning the drums, after which he trained in composition, direction and musical and sound interpretation. He also studied kinetic music, in order to work with sound mass displacement. Since 2010, he has specialised in live shows and developed the conceptual and technical arrangements specific to each project.
Since 2017, Sandy Flinto and Pierrick Grobéty have been working in close collaboration with the author and dramaturge Daniel Marinangeli. In 2019, they affirmed their common language and their collective signature by forming the Eddi van Tsui company.
Their creations include Ecological Anxiety Disorder (2021), Vanitas. Live fast, never digest (2019), Art.13 (2018), Adaptation (2017).