Boris Charmatz [terrain]

​Noli me tangere: A Happening for Herz-Jesu (2022)
Durational performance

Noli me tangere, meaning “don’t touch me,” is what Jesus purportedly said to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, but it could easily apply to us all in these self-isolated and lonely times. In his new performance for steirischer herbst, Boris Charmatz enters into a dialogue with the phantasmic neo-Gothic architecture and mystical background of Herz-Jesu church to examine the notion of ekklesia (Greek for “assembly”).

In a choreographic experiment proposed to ten dancers, Charmatz uses the church’s physical space to ask what the human architecture of an assembly would look like today and how it could shake up the notion of the church as we know it. Charmatz puts bodies into contact, in a choreography founded on punk energy, extremely fast movement, and long-drawn-out voices, in dialogue with the performative principles of repetition and vibration of organ pieces and bells.

Boris Charmatz (1973, Chambéry, France) is a dancer and choreographer as well as the director of [terrain] and, from August 2022, of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. He is building an artistic project shared between France and Germany. [terrain] is supported by the Ministry of Culture—DRAC Hauts-de-France and the Hauts-de-France Region. As part of its presence in the Hauts-de-France region, [terrain] is working with the Opéra de Lille, the phénix national stage of Valenciennes—Pôle européen de création, and the Maison de la Culture d’Amiens—Pôle européen de création et de production. Boris Charmatz is an associated artist of Charleroi danse from 2018 to 2022.

24.9., 25.9., 14:00–17:00

(late admission at any time)

Herz-Jesu-Kirche
Sparbersbachgasse 58
8010 Graz

Free admission (limited capacity)

25.9.: Due to weather conditions, the project was adapted and will take place exclusively inside the church (14-16h).

Education offer
Following the performance on 24.9.
Eat and Greet
In English
With Boris Charmatz and Ekaterina Degot
herbstbar at Feinkost Mild
Free of charge within the framework of the performance


Interpretation: Laura Bachman, Régis Badel, Boris Charmatz, Guilhem Chatir, Tatiana Julien, Georges Labbat, Noémie Langevin, Johanna Elisa Lemke, Bruno Senune, and Solène Wachter

Conception and choreography: Boris Charmatz
Choreographic assistant: Magali Caillet Gajan
Lights: Yves Godin
Organ: Hampus Lindwall
Sound: Olivier Renouf
Costumes: Florence Samain
Vocal work: Dalila Khatir
General stage manager: François Aubry
Light technician: Fabrice Le Fur
Sound engineer: Perig Menez
Deputy director [terrain]: Hélène Joly
Direction of productions: Martina Hochmuth, Lucas Chardon
Production managers: Jessica Crasnier, Briac Geffrault
Music: arrangements, bells: Olivier Renouf; improvisation, organ: Hampus Lindwall; Stefan Fraunberger, “Elegie,” Quellgeister#3 Bussd (2019), © Morphine Records; Phill Niblock, Unmounted / Muted Noun, for organ AND 4 pre-recorded tracks, commissioned by Festival Musica Strasbourg for Hampus Lindwall (2019); Hampus Lindwall, Ite Missa Est (2022); Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111, II. Arietta: Adagio, free interpretation of an excerpt from the second movement
Text inspired by: John Donne, „Meditation XVII: For Whom the Bell Tolls“ (1623); Peaches „Fuck the Pain Away“ (2000)

Acknowledgements: Ashley Chen, Sofia Dias, Angela Diaz Quintela, João dos Santos Martins, Henrique Furtado, Simon Le Borgne, Anaísa Lopes aka Piny, Vítor Roriz, Lewis Seivwright, Catherine Wood


Commissioned by steirischer herbst ’22

Produced by steirischer herbst ’22 and [terrain]

Supported by Culturgest—Fundação Caixa Geral de Depósitos (Season France—Portugal 2022), Creative Europe program “Create to Connect -> Create to Impact,” Lafayette Anticipations—Fondation d’entreprise Galeries Lafayette within the framework of the program “Atelier en résidence” and the Église du Saint-Esprit, Paris