The body on stage in video installations

Since the 1960s there have been constant displacements between exhibition and stage, brought about by close collaboration between choreographers, directors, artists and musicians, opening the exhibition space to a new theatrical dimension.
Created when this mutation was beginning to occur, the first video apparatuses, like those of Bruce Nauman, Dan Graham and Peter Campus, give the body a central position. These time-based works speak to all the different senses, bringing about a state of presence that is corporeal as well as mental.
By introducing movement into images in a museum context, video installations combine two regimes that were long considered opposed, those of contemplation and immanence, characteristic of the performing arts. The viewer is constantly aware of their body and the space where they stand.

The body is apprehended in its spatio-temporal situation by perceptual experiences that echo the philosophical and critical perspectives developed by phenomenology. The social image of the body is distanced in order to anchor our relation to the world, seeking to reunify sensations and representations, to put an end to split reality.
Conceived in and for this context, many video installations reflect on the bodies that support them, inventing specific apparatuses. Whether integrated into the work, or linked to an exhibition, these staged propositions organise the flux of images and use sounds to compose a sculptural sequence that speaks to our sensorial body.

Jeu de Paume is a privileged place of experimentation, as exemplified in its exhibitions of Omer Fast, Aernout Mik, Jordi Colomer, Laurent Grasso and Natasha Nisic. This symposium will therefore have a privileged perspective on the aesthetic experiences discussed by the contributing theoreticians and artists.

Directed by Mathilde Roman, an associate researcher at the Institut Acte, with Jacinto Lageira and Françoise Parfait, professors at the Université de Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, plus theoreticians and artists.

Symposium at the Jeu de Paume auditorium: 3 euros, free for members or on presentation of the exhibitions ticket.
Information: infoauditorium@jeudepaume.org