Contrapposto Studies

The body – truncated, made-up or performed; space – oppressive, blinding or alienating; and sound – disconcerting and haunting: these are the three fundamental materials of the theater of cruelty and absurdity utilized, via video, performance, photography, and sculpture, for nearly sixty years by the precursor of body art (born in 1941 in Indiana), honored at the Punta della Dogana.

Mixing old pieces (Walk with Contrapposto, Acoustic Wedge …) and their recent reinterpretations (via interactive modeling, in particular), the exhibition at Palazzo Grassi explores the dramaturgical dimension of this experimental work, putting the body to the test (including that of the visitor) to show man in the grips of his demons and his obsessions. The body caught in a vice, the body constrained, the body disarticulated… here is the man/puppet reduced to his most tragic expression – that of repetition and dislocation.

Palazzo Grassi, Punta della Dogana, Venice – www.palazzo.grassi.it

Until November 27

Stéphanie Dulout