ST. LUCY [TO LOOK UPON MEN WITH LUST] (2017)


The video restages the biography of the Christian martyr St. Lucy, who sacrifices her eyesight [and with it the capacity for visual pleasure] in exchange for a life dedicated to God.
Important events in the saint's life story are reenacted by two performers in a repeated theatrical choreography made up of seven blocks/sequences.
The roles of Lucy, her mother, the Roman Emperor etc, are continually swapped and playfully interchanged. The layering of the repeated scenes filmed with two HD cameras, conjures several conflicting perspectives and temporal dimensions, blending contemporary and historical time.



Premises and rules:

i. we understand the shoot as a sort of repeated practice, not as an immersive performance for an audience, but as something we are immersed in.

ii. what is important to us is the dynamic between the actors.

iii. actors have a common aim: to keep up the play, the pace, the flow of powers, the intensity of the situation.

iv. each actor has something (eyes) the other wants to possess.

v. each actor wants to keep for themselves what they have.

vi. both actors have to know at all times where the other one is.

vii. they are dependent on each other for the action to persist.

viii. each actor is all characters in St Lucy's story.

ix. the motivations of the characters and their histories may be relevant to maintain the urgency of playing.