{"id":673,"date":"2023-07-14T09:56:13","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T09:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2023arles\/?p=673"},"modified":"2024-06-25T10:04:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T10:04:00","slug":"not-a-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/not-a-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Not a performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Story and photos by Kylie Clifton

It\u2019s a regular day at LUMA Arles<\/a>. Visitors are milling about; smiles grow like eager crops at the sight of two 90-foot-long intertwining stainless-steel slides. Pascal Coluni, a LUMA welcome agent, collects denim toboggans from guests at the foot of the slide with a wide grin. Guests watch the slides behind smartphones as Coluni checks his watch repeatedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then it starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking a few steps from his post, Coluni changes his posture and begins to sing. It\u2019s musical, but there are no words. An ethereal echo fills the cavernous tower. The sounds are eerie and bizarre, yet still comforting. Coluni opens his arms to welcome others to join in. A few visitors start singing the wordless song together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This video shows excerpts from the first part of “These Elements,” a collaborative immaterial artwork created by world-renowned artists Tino Sehgal and Phillipe Parreno. This section of the work lasts about five minutes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To visitors, it might appear that Coluni has gone rogue \u2013 or perhaps a bit mad. However, the song is not spontaneous. It’s the first composition from \u201cThese Elements,\u201d a collaborative immaterial artwork created by world-renowned artists Tino Sehgal<\/a> and Phillipe Parreno<\/a>. This exhibition was commissioned by LUMA Arles for the opening of the Tower in 2021 and the living artwork has continued daily for two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese Elements\u201d is a permanent exhibition at LUMA Arles, but its existence isn\u2019t documented. Visitors will not find a title, an artist credit, a schedule or a description on location or on the LUMA website<\/a>.

The exhibition needs to be experienced to be understood, and behind it is a complex list of rules per the artists\u2019 instruction. The first rule: This is not a performance and it should not be regarded as one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor Tino’s work, the art is what is born in between the person who does it and the person who receives it,\u201d explained Iaci Lomonaco, head of global engagement for Tino Sehgal. \u201cSo, it’s what we are exchanging. Who is singing is [not] the star; [the star] is what we exchange. This really depends on the mood of the interpreter but also the moods of who is receiving it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese Elements\u201d is made up of three compositions and a film. The first element is the immaterial artwork that Coluni participates in. When the singers finish the five-minute piece, they move into a room where visitors are seated on a giant circular couch watching and listening to a multimedia piece by Phillipe Parreno. Once inside the room, the singers join the unknowing guests on the sofa and start improvising electric sounds in a piece called \u201cThe Grotto.\u201d The final element, \u201cThe Spider,\u201d includes an improvisational duet between a dancer and a pianist. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the beginning, LUMA Arles sought to hire existing welcome agents for \u201cThese Elements.\u201d Coluni, who started working at LUMA Arles in 2016, was invited to meet Sehgal for a vocal exercise in June 2021. Without any voice lessons or experience performing, he discovered he could sing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to 2021, he had only ever sung at home and simply for fun. His favorite artists and genres include Michael Jackson, Mariah, jazz and gospel music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pascal Coluni, a welcome agent at LUMA Arles, sings the first movement of “Three Elements.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a revelation for me,\u201d said Coluni. \u201cIt revealed my artistic side and the fact that I didn’t know that my voice had that much potential and could cover that great a range in terms of what I could do singing Tino\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This exhibition is kept alive by the presence of an unknowing audience. Impressions from onlookers can vary from confused to delighted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInteraction with people changes it a lot,\u201d said Flore Silly, another LUMA employee who participates in the exhibition. \u201cEnergy of the day is always different [which influences the] piece. So every day is different. I learned from those interactions or synergies how to be in flux, to share, to be incarnated in all those different elements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jo Crosby, an Australian who was visiting LUMA Arles recently, heard the vocal piece while viewing another exhibition. Intrigued by the sound, she left her exhibit to find the source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn’t sure if it’s an installation or if it\u2019s actually part of the building,\u201d said Crosby. \u201cIt’s fantastic to see something that’s not so conservative, that’s brave and yet unexpectedly pushing the boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This exhibition is collaborative in nature but not just with the artists \u2014 Coluni treasures the moments shared with visitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a nurse who had just come out of two years of working through COVID-19,\u201d he recalled. \u201cAt the end she came up to me and [silently embraced me]. She had been very moved by the piece and I was also moved by her reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Story and photos by Kylie Clifton It\u2019s a regular day at LUMA Arles. Visitors are milling about; smiles grow like eager crops at the sight of two 90-foot-long intertwining stainless-steel slides. Pascal Coluni, a LUMA welcome agent, collects denim toboggans from guests at the foot of the slide with a wide grin. Guests watch the … Continue reading Not a performance<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[17,5,85,82,78,84,83],"class_list":["post-673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","tag-arles","tag-featured","tag-living-artwork","tag-luma-arles","tag-luma-tower","tag-phillipe-parreno","tag-tino-sehgal"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Clifton-featured-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":759,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673\/revisions\/759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2024arles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}