The performance that Thibault Delferiere [mySpace, website] did at Ateliers Mommen (Brussels) on the 5th of this month [invitation] can somewhat be seen as a mash-up of some of his previous performances – that is to say of the 4 that I have personally seen [Ulrika rebuild 01, Antwerp, Réminiscence 02, Tienen, Alice au pays des disqueuses, Dansons au crépuscule des idoles]. For this occasion Thibault Delferiere was assisted by some fellow-artists, Elisabeth Gleditsch (vocals), Daniel Hélin (electric guitar), Anne Collet (accordeon) and Benjamin Franklin (low trance broken poetic fi) took care of the musical aspect of the show, while with him on stage were Marie and Izou, the two muse-like figures you see in the pictures [over here]. Most of Thibaults’ plays are pretty tormented, centering around the body (among other things), with a certain Nietzschean touch (not too surprising as Delferiere graduated in philospohy with a work entitled “L’art chez Nietzsche”).
The performance Thibault Delferiere did at Ateliers Mommen had as theme the painter stimulated by his environment – each of the 4 musicians played a piece of music and Thibault Delferiere reacted to that music – assisted by the two muses, who handed him paint and brushes, and helped him in and out of his clothes. As the performance progressed Thibault Delferiere’s movements grew more and more intense, smearing himself in with red paint, rolling over the sheets of paper led out around him and imitating certain sexual acts. Exhausted and liberated he was led of the stage by his two assistants at the end of the performance. Filmed part of the show, with a digital photocam, but quality is rather poor, so I’ve decided not to include it here.
Equally important of course was the expo that was running (the expo ran till the 14th, so you’ve just missed it), whith paintings clearly influenced by Francis Bacon (among others, I’d even say there was a bit of Ensor in his use of paint), and maybe also George Grosz and Otto Dix. I’ve probably missed a couple of influences, as I know nothing of painting (nor music).