You are an object to me

The stage: a large white horizontal canvas, with everyday objects and performer Marie De Corte on it. A relationship develops between the silent, still objects and the mobile and expressive body.

What if the objects start moving; hesitate, stagger, walk away. What if there is a meeting between Cézanne’s apples and a few Morandi vases. What if De Corte starts a conversation with a pear.

In You are an Object to me, her latest creation, Charlotte Bouckaert (11 seconds) encourages us to approach the still lifes that are casually created in our living rooms with amazement. To switch off our automatic and routine gaze, the greatest enemy of looking. Man and object leave traces in time. What are the contours that life leaves behind?

“It is the fate of things and of everything one can possess to know an inexplicable and short existence born from darkness in little light. They are there for a moment, then they slide away over the edge, disappear into nothingness.” (Bart Verschaffel – art philosopher)

Over the past 10 years, Charlotte Bouckaert has developed a visual language at the intersection of visual art and live performance. After 11 seconds, her latest theatre performance, in which one photo is the guiding principle of a playful association of thoughts about (looking at) art, this time the still life in painting is Bouckaert’s starting point. She questions the stagnation and lifelessness of the genre. You are an Object to me focuses on looking as a conscious and inspired action.