Page 91 - PIP

Allege is the first performance I made. It is a solo and was premiered in January 2009 in Berlin. It has since been performed in many countries in Europe and North America, first only by me and then later by my friend Vincent Weber. In this first performance, I wanted to create a meaningful gesture in response to what was happening in the year of its making: the financial crises and the unsuccessful conference in Copenhagen on climate change. I was searching for ways to reopen a horizon of hope. After years of work I had developed a technique of balancing objects, and the performance took the form of a challenge, a multi-tasking activity in which I was to construct the relationship between objects while balancing a glass of water on my head. It is also a system of signs, as in the piece objects carry conceptual meaning and are moved around and organized according to this meaning, which is only later explained. The text in the second part of the performance gives an insight into the activity of the first part of the performance, and this metaphorical game in which things become concepts is brought to another level and in itself becomes a sign.
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Clément Layes, Vincent Weber