ABOUT
«In my work, I implement sound as an equal theatrical means of narration and style together with movement, language or images. Telling stories with sound is unique and highly relevant: it opens up multifaceted thought spaces that we need today for a common tomorrow.
The eye focusses, it selects the essential, the rest is blocked out. In contrast, our sense of hearing goes in all directions nonstop, and it allows different things to coexist. Sound is immaterial and creates spaces in which we can experience and feel. Sounds appear only for a short period and their echos are often in the interior, since every sound creates individual associations. This makes sound valuable as a means of narration: the ambivalence or insight that one and the same thing can mean something completely dissimilar for different people, while at the same time being something shared – an in-between that connects us, that reminds us we are all part of something larger than ourselves and our own perception.
Life is not always clear-cut; it often takes place in the spaces in between, where the path or orientation are not always self-evident. This ambiguity attracts me, because I see it as something very alive. In every relationship to people or things there are elements that we don’t know, that we don’t understand. There are secrets, gaps, contradictions and inexplicable things. But if you are willing to open yourself up to such vague states, you are willing to allow for this loss of control, then you might gain new insights and outlooks. A space for an encounter is created in which a third, new element can emerge or where a memory is placed in an expanded context to allow for new interpretations.
How do I find my place in a ripping current of information in daily life? How do I find an anchor point and position that allows for understanding non-understanding and knowing what we don’t know while including that in my decisions?
My work is an invitation to perceive situations of daily life from a different perspective. It opens an experiential space in which we can feel and sense things. What are encounters? What and where is our togetherness? What is the individual, and what is the collective? How can we develop a feeling for what we share in common from our own perspective, place our own view in a collective context, next to other realities and thoughts? Where and how is commonality created among all differences, privileges and disparities?
Listening brings people together and is built on empathy. Listening needs time. Given someone or something time means giving them space - space in one’s own perception, in one’s own space. It is the essence of an encounter, discovery and the potential for understanding and change.»
Dimitri de Perrot
BIOGRAPHY
Dimitri de Perrot is a Swiss sound artist, director, set designer and musician. His artistic works create spaces for listening – poetic, political and immersive experiences. Using sound as a central narrative, stylistic and dramaturgical medium, he develops theatrical forms that sharpen our awareness of the world around us and question the conditions of living together.
His theatrical creations and installations emerge through a dialogue with spaces, places and people – on theatre stages, in museums and in public space. At the centre of his practice is listening as both an artistic and a social act: How does listening transform perception? How does it shape our encounters and the way we live together?
Dimitri de Perrot began his artistic career as a DJ and turntablist in the 1990s. He was co-founder and co-director of the artist collective MZdP (1998-2005) and of the Swiss directing duo Zimmermann & de Perrot (2006–2017), whose internationally acclaimed productions combined music, visual art, dance, clowning and contemporary circus into a unique theatrical language.
Since founding his own production company, Studio DdP, in 2017, he has developed his work independently. His productions and collaborations have toured internationally and have been presented at renowned theatres, museums and festivals including Le Centquatre Paris, Centre Culturel Suisse Paris, Romaeuropa Festival, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hellerau – European Centre for the Arts Dresden, SPRING – Performing Arts Festival Utrecht, Biennale Prototipoak Bilbao, Museum Tinguely Basel, Kaserne Basel, Zürcher Theater Spektakel, Gessnerallee Zürich, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Le Maillon Strasbourg, La Bâtie – Festival de Genève, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Internationale Schillertage Mannheim, Festival Archipel Genève, KorSonoR Genève, Sonic Matter Zürich, EinTanzHaus Mannheim, Ultima Festival Oslo and Trafó – House of Contemporary Arts Budapest, as well as Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, BAM New York (Brooklyn Academy of Music), Grec Festival Barcelona, Holland Festival, Barbican London, Théâtre de la Ville Paris, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Sydney Opera House, Cairo International Festival for Experimental Theatre and Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, among many others.
Dimitri de Perrot has been a lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) since 2014. He holds an Executive Master in Arts Administration (EMAA) from the University of Zurich and is Artist in Residence at Le Centquatre Paris.
He lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland.
AWARDS
2021 Design Prize Switzerland for NIEMANDSLAND
2013 Foundation Heinz Spoerli Award to Zimmermann & de Perrot
2011 Swiss Design Award, stage design of CHOUF OUCHOUF
2011 Argus Angel Award, Brighton Festival for CHOUF OUCHOUF
2010 Swiss Design Award, stage design of ÖPER ÖPIS
2010 Culture Promotion Prize of the Canton of Zurich to Zimmermann & de Perrot
2009 Swiss Dance and Choreography Prize for ÖPER ÖPIS
2008 Swiss Design Award, stage desing of GAFF AFF
2008 Swiss Innovation Award - ATP for GAFF AFF
2007 Prix Mimos, 25ème festival international, Périgueux for GAFF AFF
2005 «Werkjahr Musik» of the City of Zurich
2004 Honorary Prize of the City of Zurich in the field of dance to Collectiv MZdP
2003 Best Original Soundtrack for HOI, Kontakt - International Theatre Festival Torun
2001 Best Original Soundtrack for GOPF, Kontakt - International Theatre Festival Torun
2000 Audience Award, Belgrade Int. Theater Festival for GOPF
1999 Winner of the Treppstein – Cool DJ Contes
Photo © Augustin Rebetez