Kirili in Dialogue with

Tom Buckner

Tom Buckner, with Roscoe Mitchell , Concert à L’Orangerie, 2007 (photo©Ariane Lopez-Huici)

“ Être sur scène avec les sculptures d’Alain Kirili est une forte et profonde expérience pour moi.

Je suis obligé de me concentrer sur la sculpture et de traduire cette émotion par des sons et des mouvements. ”

Tom Buckner

Tom Buckner, with Improvisation by Alain Kirili, Atelier New York, 1997

(photo©Ariane Lopez-Huici)

Sculpture & Jazz dialogue

at the Musée de Grenoble, 1999

with baritone Thomas Buckner, saxophonist Joseph Jarman,

dancer Maria Mitchell & sculptor Alain Kirili

excerpt from the film Prière de Toucher by Jean Paul Fargier, 2002

Alain Kirili’s exhibition at the Musée de Grenoble en 1999

with baritone Thomas Buckner, saxophonist Joseph Jarman and dancer Maria Mitchell

Autour des Commandements d’Alain Kirili

Music Album published in the Catalogue made by the Musée de Grenoble, 1999

with the participation of Joseph Jarman, William Parker, Daniel Carter,

Leena Conquest, Roy Campbell Jr, Sabir Mateen, Thomas Buckner

Leroy Jenkins, Tom Buckner, Joseph Jarman

at the White Street Loft, 2004

TOTEM

Jérôme Bourdellon (flutes and shakuhachi), Thomas Buckner (voice), Alain Kirili (sculptures)

2005

In August of 2005, on a visit to Paris to celebrate the birthday of sculptor Alain Kirili, singer Thomas Buckner and flutist Jérôme Bourdellon gathered with Kirili at his studio to record these duo improvisations in the presence of his group of sculptures entitled "Totem". Both musicians are longtime collaborators with Alain Kirili, performing most recently in a concert at the Theatre du Palais Royal in Paris celebrating the opening of an installation of these sculptures in the Jardin du Palais Royal. The music is a spontaneous response to and interaction with the sculpture.

Cover image: Totem, Alain Kirili, bronze, 2004 photo© Ariane Lopez-Huici

Sculpture & jazz dialogue at the

Théâtre du Palais Royal, 2005

In the context of his deep involvement with contemporary music and jazz, Kirili develops «sculpture and jazz» dialogues. On April 18, 2005, the Théâtre du Palais-Royal presents an ensemble of the sculptures with the music of Joseph Jarman, Thomas Buckner, Jérôme Bourdellon, and Dalila Khatir.

Tom Buckner, Dalila Khatir, Jérôme Bourdellon et Joseph Jarman

with Alain Kirili’ sculptures Lévitation & Segou at the Théâtre du Palais Royal, 2005

(photo©Ariane Lopez-Huici )

film Concert au Théâtre du Palais Royal, 2005 by Chrystel Egal

with Jérôme Bourdellon, Joseph Jarman, Dalila Khatir and Tom Buckner

and the sculptures Lévitation & Segou of Alain Kirili

KIRILI ET LES NYMPHEAS

Exhibition at the Musée de l'Orangerie May-September 2007

For this Hommage à Monet, I created a sculptural ensemble in consonance with the Les Nymphéas (Water Lilies) : a Commandment, to Claude Monet, in colored cement, an ensemble of intensified signs that echo the impact of the Les Nymphéas. For me, the musical dialogue that took place with the June 21st concert was a powerful evocation of post-Impressionism: Les Nymphéas, Soutine, my sculptures, and this music together became the incarnation of modernity.

The heritage of the dialogue between Debussy and Monet has been renewed in this manner. With a positively magical force, Thomas Buckner invents a dance, a new kinesis, a new relation to the body in the presence of my sculpture and Les Nymphéas. This is not a show or entertainment, but an invocation and communion, as we can see in the photographs of Ariane Lopez-Huici and the video of Jean-Paul Fargier.

Jérôme Bourdellon, Thomas Buckner, Roscoe Mitchell, Dalila Khatir, and my sculpture celebrate an aesthetic of improvisation and spontaneity that unites all of their talents, and all of these arts, all of these generations, in terms of a single imperative: to express the freedom of the unconscious. One conviction emerges as a message to the 21st Century: the modern tradition remains young and very much alive!

Alain Kirili

New York, June 2008

Tom Buckner et Jérôme Bourdellon

Concert à l’Orangerie, Exposition Kirili et Les Nymphéas 2008

(photo©Ariane Lopez-Huici )

Kirili Et Les Nympheas - Hommage to Claude Monet at the Musée de l’Orangerie

Directed by Jean-Paul Fargier - 2007
with
Jerome Bourdellon: flutes, bass clarinet
Thomas Buckner: baritone
Dalila Khatir: soprano
Roscoe Mitchell: alto & soprano saxophone

KIRILI ET LES NYMPHEAS

Hommage à Monet , Improvised music at the Musée de l'Orangerie

JEROME BOURDELLON flutes, bass clarinet THOMAS BUCKNER baritone

ALAIN KIRILI sculptures DALILA KHATIR soprano ROSCOE MITCHELL alto & soprano saxophones

(Photos: ©Laurent Lecat et Ariane Lopez-Huici )

Sculpture & jazz dialogue at the

Galerie Richard, 2009

Tom Buckner, Jérôme Bourdellon et Laurel Jenkins

Opening of the show Kirili Gorchov, Galerie Richard, Paris, 2009