Performance and Video Installation, variable duration

2019

 

 

“Break even point” is defined as a “Point in time (or in number of units sold) when forecasted revenue exactly equals the estimated total costs”. By borrowing this concept from the business terminology, we point at a moment of connection between two different futures: the speculation on a possible future which goes back to the present moment and a present which becomes one version of the future. 

 

The installation consists of three cube-shaped “time-boxes” measuring 2x2 mt. and 1x1 mt., made of steel covered with transparent plastic, where three actions take place.

 

The bigger cube hosts a live performance, which results becomes part of the installation. During the performance, white threads are sewed on the walls. Two performers, one on the outside and one on the inside of the cube, work together as one single being. The action is repeated several times, the number of threads increases until it becomes difficult to move inside the box. The performer on the inside will then cut some of the threads and again add more, thus highlighting the uselessness of the effort.

The two smaller cubes host two video projections: the traditional string game performed by two hands, shown reversed on the left box. The double image of a flower that goes from blooming to decomposition and from decomposition to blooming, until the two images become one for a fraction of second, on the right box.

 

The installation and performance aim at representing the construction of a fragment of existence that happens twice: in the construction and in its inverse movement. The hypnotic yet useless movement unravels the ephemerality of speculation and profit.