Pauline Boudry &
Renate Lorenz &
A Portrait captures the resonance of presence and the performative essence of self-representation, staging eight queer performers who alternately occupy the spotlight. Each figure disrupts conventional divides between character and persona, body and prop, embodying what Maggie Nelson terms »the flickering, bewildered places that people actually inhabit«. Here, the stage becomes a threshold, an entryway into identity as a fluid process rather than a stable fact.
The work compels us to reconsider the nature of a self-portrait and the pretensions of objectivity inherent in portraiture, revealing that every depiction of the self is, at its core, a performance. The steady rhythm of a cinematic clapboard marks the transition into fiction, suggesting that performative spaces—as well as identities—offer different ways of expression and reinvention of the self. The performance unfolds within a theatrical black box, its walls draped in black faux leather. This visceral element of the stage embodies corporeal fluidity, blurring the boundaries between multiple binaries and states of being.
Since their collaboration began in 2007, Boudry and Lorenz have centered the body in their video installations, revealing the tensions between visibility and invisibility. Through choreographed performances involving a diverse array of collaborators—choreographers, artists, and musicians, among others—they explore themes of companionship, glamour, and resistance while engaging in a long-term dialogue about the violent histories that shape our understanding of bodies and identities. (Vanina Saracino)
Performance: Jimmy Robert, Werner Hirsch, Julie Cunningham, Trajal Harrell, Aérea Negrot, Klara Líden, Peaches, Ming Wong
Commissioned by: Leeum Museum of Art
With support of: Federal Ministry, Republic of Austria, Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sports (BMKOES, section Media Art)
