Julie Béna: Have you seen Pantopon Rose?

Have you seen Pantopon Rose? is a performance by French artist Julie Béna written in three acts. Currently being developed as a film, the work’s presentation as part of In formation speaks to the possibilities within public storytelling. Taking its roots in theatre, antiquity, mythology, writing and nightlife, this performance focuses on one figure, Pantopon Rose, taken from the William Burroughs novel Naked Lunch. The character of Pantopon Rose only appears momentarily in the novel, yet through her own storytelling, Béna provides agency to an otherwise effaced fictitious female figure.

Julie Béna works on environments that draw inspiration from the world of literature, film, theater and popular culture. Béna studied at the Villa Arson in Nice and attended the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. In 2012-2013, she was part of le Pavillon, the research laboratory of le Palais de Tokyo. Selected solo exhibitions include L’Eternelle Insatisfaite, Syntax, Lisbon (2016); Nail Tang, Galerie Joseph Tang; How to ask better questions? Artopia, Milan; Destiny, Galerie Edouard Manet, Gennevilliers (all 2015) and T&T consortium, you’re already elsewhere, FIAF, New York (2014). She has realised performance projects at Kadist Foundation, San Francisco (2015), Fahrenheit, Los Angeles (2014); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2014) and PERFORMA 13, New York (2013).