Carpe diem 1996-2001

In 1996 in Algiers, together with other friends and artists, I created this performance group. We sought to speak out against the fundamentalist campaign of terror and the oligarchic regime, which had thrown Algeria into a state of bloody civil war.

We chose the name Carpe diem ("seize the day") in response to the permanent threat of death hanging over us. In Algeria in the 1990s this threat was one of the few promises likely to be kept, which somehow gave us a sense of freedom - everything became possible. Our philosophy was to appropriate the obstacles we encountered as a basis for joyous improvisation.

The performances that we created in the streets and theatres of Algiers, Tizi-Ouzou, and Bejaja were the last wish of men and women with a death sentence. We broke all the taboos. The performances were wordless, original and ephemeral, alternating humour, violence and joyfulness against a musical background.

Our audiences appreciated these brief moments of beauty in the face of danger.

The last performances of the group were given at the Piccolo theatre of Forli in Italy, and at the Place de la République and the Zenith concert hall in Paris.