Parfois

“The dance of the receptors #4”
Quebec, Canada 2022
Le Lieu – Centre en Art Actuel
Invited by Geneviève Roy
Duration: 27 minutes
Photographs by Monika Deimling

Context:
PAS | Performance Art Studies was invited to realize PAS #79 | “In every empty bottle is a story” at Le Lieu – Centre en Art Actuel in Quebec City, Canada in September 2022. The launch of PAS was a public event where the performance was presented.

Description of actions:
A collage of performance images and sounds is created by executing the following actions with selected material.

– Continously stepping on a book and bumping into the wall as the audience enters the room.
– Moving the hand over the heads of the people as if something is being collected and putting the hand in the pocket of the pants.
– Taking several wooden letters out of the pants and droping them on the floor.
– Painting the head and face with white paint.
– Arranging the wooden letters and form the sentence: “Parfois nous regardons” (Sometimes we watch) on the floor.
– Connecting a string attached to a large plant to a toe and begin to bob. [The plant is nodding in the rhythm of the bobbing feet.]
– Pulling out the pages of the book. [Slowly at first and gradually increasing the action. The pages fuller around and fall to the floor.]
– Placing a large frame around my neck and painting it blue and white.
– Start babbling with the frame around the neck while painting the mouth and shirt with the hands.
– Collecting the pages on the floor and putting them in four small wooden houses.
– Arranging the wooden letters and form the sentence: “Parfois nous voyons” (Sometimes we see) on the floor.
– Deconstructing the frame into four pieces and glue them to the wall.
– Placing the chair on the four roofs of the wooden houses and lighting the pages inside. [The houses will slowly start to burn.]
– Standing on the chair, holding the book over the head, and whistling like a bird. [After a brief moment, the houses collapse.]