Memory of Mankind

Inspired by the work of the Austrian artist Martin Kunze, Marcus Lindeen and Marianne Ségol interweave documentary material and fiction to reflect on our collective history, on the obsession to remember and be remembered.

In 2012, in an Austrian salt mine, the ceramist Martin Kunze created Memory of Mankind, a collection of ceramic tablets on which he inscribed words and images, with the aim of creating a backup of human civilisation.
More than ten years later, Marcus Lindeen, together with the French dramaturg Marianne Ségol, combines the account by Kunze to other stories: a man whose memory resets completely at regular intervals, and who regains his memories every time with the help of his wife, a writer; a queer archaeologist who wants to falsify the past to give a role to those excluded from history.
Exploring the complex relationship between memory and oblivion, the show explores what it means to remember, what should be held in the mind and what, instead, should be forgotten.

Recommended for audiences aged 16 and over
A show in French with Italian and English surtitles

Duration: 80’ without intermission

Cities

In 2012, in an Austrian salt mine, the ceramist Martin Kunze created Memory of Mankind, a collection of ceramic tablets on which he inscribed words and images, with the aim of creating a backup of human civilisation.
More than ten years later, Marcus Lindeen, together with the French dramaturg Marianne Ségol, combines the account by Kunze to other stories: a man whose memory resets completely at regular intervals, and who regains his memories every time with the help of his wife, a writer; a queer archaeologist who wants to falsify the past to give a role to those excluded from history.
Exploring the complex relationship between memory and oblivion, the show explores what it means to remember, what should be held in the mind and what, instead, should be forgotten.

Recommended for audiences aged 16 and over
A show in French with Italian and English surtitles

Duration: 80’ without intermission

Credits

Memory of Mankind
written and directed by Marcus Lindeen
created by Marcus Lindeen and Marianne Ségol
dramaturgy and translation Marianne Ségol
voices Gabriel Dufay, Julien Lewkowicz, Olga Mouak, Nathan Jousni, Marianne Ségol
music and sound design Hans Appelqvist
sets Mathieu Lorry-Dupuy
lighting Diane Guérin
costumes Charlotte Legal with Sofia Aouine, Driver, Axel Ravier, Jean-Philippe Uzan
casting Naelle Dariya
stage manager David Marin
sound technician Nicolas Brusq
video technician and lighting Dimitri Blin
production manager Emanuelle Ossena, Charlotte Pesle Beal, Lison Bellanger | EPOC productions
a Wild Minds company production
co-produced with T2G-Théâtre de Gennevilliers – CDN, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa, La Comédie de Caen – CDN de Normandie, Le META – CDN Poitiers Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Nouveau Théâtre de Besançon Centre dramatique national, Le Quai ‐ CDN Angers Pays de Loire, Kunstenfestivaldesarts Bruxelles, Wiener Festwochen, Le Grand T Nantes, Le Lieu Unique Nantes, PEP Pays-de-Loire with the support of Fondation d’entreprise Hermès
with the support of ADAMI
project supported by the Ministry of Culture – Regional directorate of cultural affairs of Île-de-France
sets created by the set workshop of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa and the Nouveau Théâtre de Besançon Centre Dramatique National

Recommended for audiences aged 16 and over
A show in French with Italian and English surtitles