Staying on Top
performed at Palais De Congres, for Art Souterrin in Montreal, 2018
curator Pascale Beaudet
Carrying the weight of the world on one's shoulders: this is what the artist does during his performances, by carting around bundles of clothes, dressed as an office employee.
His references harken back to Antiquity: He is Atlas personified, one of the Giants of Greek mythology, whom the supreme god Zeus sentenced to holding up the firmament on his shoulders. He is Sisyphus, endlessly pushing the same boulder up the mountain, absurdly carrying his burden, which is the condition of modern man, enslaved to his work.
He lifts bundles of clothes and makes piles he then climbs, a reference to globalization, as clothes are quite often made in Asia by exploited workers.
