Estelle Benazet Heugenhauser

Estelle Benazet Heugenhauser (1985) is a Franco-Austrian writer, researcher and performer. Her texts put bodies to the test. Desire, hunger and expenditure generate action and metabolize the exercise of power. Her writing blends theory and fiction. It is published in book form (“Le régime parfait”, Rotolux Press, 2022; “Bêcher son visage”, La Chambre verte, 2020); in magazines (La Déferlante, Sève, Trou Noir, AOC.media); in performances (Point Éphémère, Centre Pompidou); and at conferences. Her current creative writing thesis at the Université Côte d’Azur is entitled Ecrire avec les Affamées, manières de (se) nourrir dans la littérature contemporaine.

Her residency will be devoted to writing her novel Taurine. Every week, protagonist Christa, a sports and cultural guide in Salzburg (Austria), follows her routine. In the morning, she makes her group of tourists sweat through a series of gymnastic exercises. In the afternoon, she fills them in on national history during visits to heritage monuments. Between protein-packed appearances by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Empress Sissi on Redbull, Christa recalls her training sessions in Rome on the main thoroughfares of the rationalist EUR district, the feeling of power due to the effects of her gastronationalist diet.