This performance was realized for the Cité International des Arts de Paris in 2016, inspired by Roland Barthes mythology "Racine est Racine".
In his mythology „Racine est Racine“ Roland Barthes talks about tautologies in art. Assuming a piece of art as a classic, making it becoming a credo, is, as he says always an „aggressive act“. The tautology itself is therefore an excuse to go deeper into intellectual reflection about a piece of art. It also forbids to look at a work in a modern context. All together the tautology becomes a dogma about art, that is at the same time the negation of the real content of the work itself. Luise Volkmann and Yuri Leonardo, musician and visual artist, use the text Racine est Racine as a starting point to reflect on the objectiveness and freedom of the work of the contemporary artist and the purpose of their respective work.
In Jazz, Charlie Parker has become the most established tautology. Through a virtuoso and wild playing, Parker broke with tradition, reinterpreting entertainment and dancing music. For their take
on Barthes’ text, Luise Volkmann examines, from a contemporary perspective, the universality of Parker’s statement by translating his music landscape into an expression of her own. On the other
hand, Yuri Leonardo creates the equivalent by constructing a silent object that becomes an instrument when performed along Volkmann’s composition. Through the interaction of their own set
instruments, musicians and artist become an homogeneous ensemble, working their way through the concept of tautologies in art. The ensemble will consist of saxophone alto, harp, contrabass and a
silent instrument.
‘Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. {…} They teach you there’s a boundary line to music, but man, there’s no boundary line to art.’ Charlie Parker