Là-Bas (Down There), 2012

This collaborative piece made in China during an artist residency in Beijing in June and July 2012 is the second chapter of a yet unfinished trilogy, which starts with the video Imitation of Life made in 2010. A trilogy, which explores the ambiguous duality of the human nature we develop in order to subdue our personal frustrations and dissatisfactions.

This video work is essentially set in a shower – a place where we feel protected and serene as well as vulnerable and exposed, and where the element of water, symbol of purity and rebirth, can become a reminder of the stains we carry from the past. In this black tiled and steamy place two shadowy and presumably naked figures, try to merge together in an attempt to overcome what keeps them apart – which is embodied by the shower screen. Any relationship carries ongoing discoveries among which the inevitable challenges brought by the unfulfilled moments of one’s life arise. Moments, which force us to find a way to reconnect to the beloved one, to get back together on new ground, as our life is made of deep and intoxicating connections, but punctuated by moments of absolute disconnection from one another.

A confrontation with The Other, as well as ourselves, which usually takes place, Là-Bas. Down there – where some of our most elusive instincts, some ephemeral and transient feelings like confusion, fear, pain and pleasure reside. A place where no one, nothing can ever be trusted as we never know if good or bad will come of it, but a place where we all end up at some point of our life.

“The devil has no power over the will and very little over the mind, but an unlimited power over the imagination.”
Joris-Karl Huysmans, 1903.