Action: The audience encounters a space with a rectangular piece of glass placed on the floor in front of its window display. The artist enters the space and begins to take off his clothes, remaining in his black undergarments, whilst one of the members of the curating team announces information on his previous performance "Déforestation #1" that took place the day before in Toulouse - FR. The audience observes the left-over traces of this performance on the artist’s right leg in shaved and unshaved parallel horizontal stripes, as he assumes a position onto the middle of the glass. After sitting down on the glass, the artist uses a lighter to burn the hair on his left leg, allowing the fire to spread onto the leg hair. Once this process has been completed, he stands up whilst holding a shaving machine, that he then turns on and offers to the audience by extending his hand. Any members of the audience that decide to take the machine, attempt to shave off remaining hair on the artist’s leg and to look into the glass reflection whilst doing so. After all leg hair has been removed, the artist gathers the shaved remains in a circle at the middle of the glass, and slowly opens his mouth to reveal a fuchsia rose that grows out of it. He places the rose in the circle of hair and pours white spirit on top and in a circular spiral shape that surrounds it. By using the lighter, he lights up the spirit and observes the circular ring of fire that burns the hair and flower. When only one bundle of flame remains at the center, the artist abruptly hits the flame with the palm of his hand in order to extinguish it, before exiting the space.

Déforestation #2

Performance / Part of the event "PERFORMANCE ART FEST 5" by Der Pfeil / ION Projektraum / Zürich - Switzerland / May - 2014 / Duration: 35'

Material: artist's body, black undergarments, shaving machine, lighter, white spirit, rose, rectangular mirror (1.10 x 1.10 m)

Photo: Clickclick