Joris Lacoste's 4 PREPARED DREAMS Presented at FIAF's Crossing the Line Festival, Now thru 10/13

As part of the sixth edition of Crossing the Line 2012, FIAF's annual transdisciplinary festival of contemporary arts, the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) presents 4 Prepared Dreams, by Crossing the Line 2012 artist-in-residence Joris Lacoste. 4 Prepared Dreams explores hypnosis as an artistic medium with four seminal New York artists: singer-songwriter April March; Obie Award-winning director and writer Annie Dorsen; filmmaker/composer/musician Tony Conrad; and filmmaker Jonathan Caouette, and will be presented in FIAF's Le Skyroom from tonight, October 10 through Saturday, October 13, 2012 at 8pm. A different artist will join Lacoste each night.

Moving the stage into the audience's mind, and inviting his spectators on an internal journey, Joris Lacoste uses language, physicality, music, and performance to shape his extraordinary, unclassifiable works. For 4 Prepared Dreams, FIAF commissioned Lacoste to create four scripted dreams for four remarkable New York artists, who will each experience their dream during a one-on-one hypnosis session with Lacoste. The artwork is the dream experienced during the private hypnosis session, when the subject succumbs to the fiction Lacoste has constructed and provoked. Each session will be followed by a post-performance interview-open to the public-between Lacoste and the artist about the experience.

4 Prepared Dreams will be presented at Le Skyroom (22 E 60th Street between Park and Madison Avenue). Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 day-of. Tickets for FIAF Members are $10. For more information, visit fiaf.org/ctl or call 212-355-6160.

October 10 will feature April March, October 11 will feature Annie Dorsen, October 12 will feature Tony Conrad, and October 13 will feature Jonathan Caouette.

Born in 1973, Joris Lacoste lives and works in Paris. He has been writing for theater and radio since 1996 and has been performing his own shows since 2003. He created "9 lyriques pour actrice et caisse claire" in 2005 with Stephanie Béghain and "Purgatoire" at the Théâtre national de la Colline in 2007, where he was also associate author. From 2007 to 2009 he was co-director of "Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers." Taking his inspiration from literature, theater, dance, visual arts, music, sound, and poetry, his work is always deeply researched. He initiated two group projects, the "W" project in 2004 and the "Encyclopédie de la parole" in 2007, resulting notably in 2009 in a solo work, "Parlement" starring Emmanuelle Lafon. In 2009 he launched the project "Hypnographie" to explore artistic uses of hypnosis: he produced the radio play "Au musée du sommeil" (2009), the performance "Restitution" (2010), the exhibition-performance "Le Cabinet d'hypnose" (2010), the play "Le vrai spectacle" (2011), and the exhibition "12 rêves préparés."

Crossing the Line is the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF)'s annual fall festival presenting interdisciplinary works and performances created by artists from around the world in New York. The festival provides opportunities for New Yorkers to explore the dialogue between artist and participant, examine how artists help re-imagine the world, and engage in the vital role artists play as critical thinkers and catalysts for social evolution. Curated by Lili Chopra, Artistic Director of FIAF, Simon Dove, Director of the Herberger Institute School of Dance at Arizona State University, and Gideon Lester, Director of Theater Programs at Bard College, Crossing the Line is initiated and produced by FIAF in partnership with leading cultural institutions and takes place this year from September 14–October 14, 2012.

FIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. www.fiaf.org