©Anne Rochat

ANNE ROCHAT (CH)

Messaline

  • 45'
  • F Hearing-impaired spectators welcome
  • A Little or no text

Réalisation et interprétation: Anne Rochat. Costume : Séverine Besson. Design technique : Yves Besson. Assistante : Sarah Anthony.

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The Swiss artist Anne Rochat has been developing a radical practice of itinerant performance since 2008. Her latest proposition is titled Flu.o, a Laboratoire performance errance (“laboratory of performance and wandering”) consisting of five pieces devised during one year spent wandering the entire globe. This unprecedented artistic project is a poetic expedition that unfolds on three levels, which include two performances in vivo (Messaline and CHRONOS); two filmed and projected performances (Doris Magico Back to the Wall and Hic & Nunc); as well as an outside performance shown in real time (TOPO). All these propositions are driven by a similar nomadic and contemplative relationship to the world.

Messaline was the third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius, who has remained infamous for her allegedly scandalous behaviour. As the epitome of boundless lustfulness, of uncontrolled and uncontrollable female desire, she has continuously inhabited the Western imagination since the end of the Middle Ages. Wearing a dress made out of stemmed glasses, Anne Rochat is hooked onto a pair of rings fixed to the ceiling. Neurotically spinning on herself, she evokes an appetite for luxury, a thirst for pleasure and the holiday spirit of lucre. Flamboyantly dominating the audience, she is gradually divested of her wedding dress as the glasses fall to the floor and break.