Watch Paris Performances : Le Réalisme with Pauline Ghersi & Liv Schulman

« Our project is called Le Réalisme (Realism). More than a project, it's a vision, a state of mind, a philosophy. Realism is an enterprise that shows off all our pettiness, the kind of inner performances that operate at the level of intimacy: when, for example, we imagine that not paying for a drink at the bar when we've had a bad time will make up for lost time or jealousy towards our best friend, or when we imagine that a service rendered is worth an invitation to a restaurant or the purchase of a packet of coffee or a kilo of flank steak. The mechanics are displayed in all their pettiness, giving pride of place to a flat, dull everyday life of trivial joys and futile despair inspired by blockages, rivalries and obsessions. »

Le Réalisme #1
Les mesquins

Wednesday, December 3, 2024

The first occurrence consists in developing a play that contains an amateur play inside it. In this embedded play, called Les Mesquins all the actor·ices are petty. In each multidimensional character, one character trait governs: pettiness. They are not more or less petty than one another; simply, they exhibit their shameful obsessions in an obscene manner to unveil a world impoverished of joy. »

With Denis Dediev, Anna Kobakhidze, Sarah, Stéphane Lévénès, Hayika Maras and Siméon Starck.

Le Réalisme #2
Les Excédents

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

Les Excédents is the title of Liv Schulman and Pauline Ghersi's second performance at Paris Performance. Well aware of the fact that they exceeded themselves during the last piece presented at the Fondation Pernod Ricard, they propose to revisit their choices and regrets, while expressing their ambitions and the problems of scale, displacement and egos they encountered. This second occurrence of the Le Réalisme cycle will take the form of a masterclass, a choral confession, a musical fusion and will be held on February 26, 2025 at 7pm in the auditorium of the Fondation Pernod Ricard. 

With Thierry Caillibot, Alexandra Chabaud, Mathys Davillars, Pedro De Albuquerque, Esaï Krasso, Hayika Maras, Juliette Mathieu, Garance Rib and Léa Rib

Le Réalisme #3
Le Surplus

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

We offered a studio visit during which the public discovered the unconscious of the artists at work. While all the employees of the Foundation had gone off to clink glasses at an afterwork gathering, Pauline Ghersi and Liv Schulman settled into their offices to brainstorm, clean, compare themselves, take a nap, eat imaginary cordon bleus, summon algorithms, order clothes online, complain, cut their hair, and question their number of followers. In short, they worked.
Work, yes—but to what end?In this third and final installment of the cycle Le Réalisme, as part of the Paris Performances program at the Fondation Pernod Ricard, the two artists examined their ways of working and the value of that work, in a live-streamed performance entitled: Le Surplus.

With the participation of Francis Rigal. Assistant director: Mathys Davillars.