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 present PAS #79 | In Every Empty Bottle Is a Story at Le Lieu – Centre en Art Actuel in Quebec City, Canada, in September 2022. This seven-day performance course was supported by Première Ovation, a funding programme dedicated to emerging artists in Quebec.

Founded in 1982, Le Lieu is an internationally recognised organisation dedicated to performance art, installation, and interdisciplinary artistic practices. As one of the pioneering spaces for performance art in Canada, it has hosted numerous events featuring artists from around the world, establishing itself as a key hub within the global performance art network. Through its commitment to experimental and live art, Le Lieu continues to foster dialogue between local and international artists, providing a vital platform for new and established voices in performance.

One day before the course began, Le Lieu hosted a performance art evening, where the two workshop leaders, BBB Johannes Deimling and Laurence Beaudoin Morin, each presented a new work for the participants and invited audience.

The performance “Parfois” was the fourth piece in the work cycle “The Dance of the Receptors”.

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.]