Ubi(s), 2018
All images from “The powers of emotion”, Centre Pompidou, Paris
©Herve Veronese Centre Pompidou
Ubi(s) is a participative performance exploring the boundaries between emotion and action, spectator and actor, theater and cinema, stage and space.
It investigates the shifting locus where performance happens (ubi meaning where in Latin).
(click Next to read on)
A music and video piece performed is played by the artist.
The video piece is composed of black and white silent films of various origins (Mexico, India, Japan, US) showing shots of characters showing intense emotions, and is displayed on the left half of the main screen in the performance space.
Eight video cameras capture the whole performance space, filming both the stage and the audience.
The cameras are switched to infrared mode so as to obtain a black and white image.
(click Next to read on)
The shots from the different cameras (ranging from ensemble shots to close shots) are displayed alternatively on the right half of the main screen, alongside the video piece.
«Undercover» performers are distributed among the general public.
The piece starts with the announcement that the performance is participative and that all members of the public are invited to participate and perform in any way they please.
(click Next to continue)
On a preset timing the undercover performers start acting in various way (speaking, dancing, taking selfies, clapping, etc.) move around the exhibition space and within the general public until they converge on the scene at the end of the performance.
As a result, the general public starts performing in different ways, enabled encouraged by the undercover performers they believe are simply other members of the public.
