Venue: MOMENTUM. Curated by Natalia Gutman
Body, movement, and mobility are the recurring themes in Sophie Dupont’s performances. She explores connections between body and mind, habit and ritual, as well as some basic body functions, such as respiration, by investigating restriction, perseverance, autonomy and repetition. She often engages her audience in such bodily activities, where contact and simultaneous movements require collaboration and dedication. During her performance “Blind Balance” Dupont walks through the hall of the Stock Exchange, dressed in a suit of iron and brass. This event requires physical strength, coordination, and balance. Her arms are stretched out, 12 pounds of small balls and cubes are placed on her body, and a scale is hanging from each of her wrists. Her progression through the hall is controlled and focused, and the combination of the stretched arms, the inflexible steel, and the solemn walk encourages curiosity and concentration. Inspired by Justitia, the Roman goddess of justice, Dupont will be blindfolded as she invites the audience to take part in the performance. She will not be able to identify anybody or their choices, when they take a ball or a cube from her body and places it in either of the scales. It takes trust and faith for Dupont to engage herself with the public. An intimate exchange between the artist and the engaged participant is taking place, and it is then up to the individual to evaluate, and to make a choice which in the performance is a determining factor and a symbolic gesture. The scales move and include us in a game which also reflects the implication of our own choices.
Text by Natalia Gutman
Photos by Loir Zilberstein.
