The performance is co-presented with MUTEK, with financial support from the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.
Event organized with Basemental. In collaboration with Delegazione del Québec in Italia.
Following the success of live performances by major international artists such as Daito Manabe and Ryoichi Kurokawa, MEET continues its exploration of live sets that intertwine sound, image, and the body.
On October 16, the Center will host “Second Self”, broadcast live from MUTEK in Montréal, an audiovisual work born from the collaboration between choreographer and performer Nien Tzu Weng and digital artist and composer Myriam Bleau (a Prix Ars Electronica award winner and a guest at festivals such as Sónar, MUTEK, and Transmediale).
Second Self: the screen as an interface
“Second Self,” through movement, sound, and video, explores the screen by transcending its role as a mere viewing surface and reimagining it as a tactile interface, a bodily prosthesis, a mask, and a mirror. The title of the work is inspired by Sherry Turkle’s famous 1984 essay “The Second Self,” which analyzes how intelligent, responsive machines—which exhibit human characteristics—act as a “second self” and serve as technological mirrors through which we redefine our perception of our own identity in a society that is increasingly interconnected by these tools.
During the performance, Myriam Bleau and Nien Tzu Weng wear small, custom-made LED screens of irregular shapes on their bodies, transforming them into physical and expressive extensions of themselves. Every gesture made on the surfaces of these interactive devices modulates and generates the show’s sound and visual architecture in real time, amplifying the sense of touch and revealing the elusive boundary that defines our idea of a separate and autonomous self.
Through a series of different scenes, the artists delve into various themes: they explore the symbolism of the mirror and social dynamics, and reinterpret the myth of Narcissus and Echo (Echo, condemned to repeat only the words of others, dies of grief after being rejected by the beautiful Narcissus, leaving behind only her voice. Punished for his callous selfishness, Narcissus falls in love with his own reflection in a stream and pines away until he transforms into the flower that bears his name). Amid fragments of images and multiplying echoes, a ritual unfolds in which the performers’ bodies blur the boundaries of their autonomous selves, transforming in turn into reflections of the other, subhuman creatures, twins, shadows, or machines.
The artists
Myriam Bleau is a composer, digital artist, and performer based in Montréal. Using sound as a starting point, she creates audiovisual performances, installations, and interactive interfaces that bring together light, sound, and movement. Her hybrid practice employs code, machine learning, and physical computing to explore technology as a true co-creator, navigating the porous spaces between the physical and virtual worlds, and the natural and synthetic. Her work has been recognized and exhibited internationally at major festivals such as Prix Ars Electronica, Sónar, Transmediale, Elektra, MUTEK, and L.E.V. Festival.
Nien Tzu Weng is a Taiwanese-Canadian interdisciplinary dance artist and lighting designer based in Montréal. Her work bridges different disciplines through an experimental approach to the performing arts and lighting design. As a choreographer and designer, she explores the relationship between movement and new media, playing with the boundary between reality and fantasy and manipulating light to alter the perception of space and time. Her works have been presented at prestigious international venues such as Ars Electronica, the Némo Biennale, and the Node Digital Festival, as well as at research centers such as the Topological Media Lab.
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MEET presents on Thursday 14 December at 8 p.m., TESH, a new Audio Visual live performance by Lorem, the stage name of musician, visual artist and independent researcher Francesco D’Abbraccio, one of the most innovative in our country. In collaboration with Basemental and Visioni Parallele Creative Studio, TESH is the performance version of the installation […]
