Margaux Schwarz at fluent

Artist: Margaux Schwarz

Exhibition title: INSTRUCCIONES (Capilla)

Venue: fluent, Santander, Spain

Date: March 4 – April 28, 2023

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and fluent, Santander

Performance: March 4th, 1p.m.
Exhibition continues throughout April 28th
Cast: Irina Jasnowski Pascual.
Script and direction: Margaux Schwarz.
Previous chapters of this piece have been presented as INSTRUCTIONS (Theater Space) at CCHA, Hasselt, BE and INSTRUCTIONS (RED COMFORT) at De Studio, Antwerp, BE.

fluent is pleased to present INSTRUCCIONES (Capilla), a newly commissioned performance by Margaux Schwarz in which, departing from the suggestive architecture of the space, she reflects upon issues of transparency, intimacy and power. INSTRUCCIONES (Capilla) is a performance where a woman, equipped with a headset and earphones, creates a perimetral movement while repeating a pre-recorded voice flowing in her ears. While walking, she addresses a series of interactions with different people who are not presented to us, akin to a kind of training, which is in turns condescending, mothering or authoritarian when she’s not herself dominated. These instructions are all given in the name of an unspecified «We».

Can the repetition of language, intensity and tone reveal invisibilized contracts between subjects, economies and social roles? Through this question, Schwarz interrogates whether it is possible to activate new interactions between a collective form of intimacy and social power–dynamics.

Margaux Schwarz is a French artist and researcher based in Brussels. Her work takes many forms, such as conversational performances, sound pieces, short stories, scripts or events. Through them, she examines the prominent role of dramaturgy, performativity and story-telling in our society. Her doctoral research (UHasselt / PXL-MAD School of Arts) is informed by fields such as digital anthropology and the sociology of work. It explores power structures in language and communication, with a specific focus on performative strategies used in socio– professional interactions.

*This project is kindly supported by Fonestar and Santander City Hall’s department for youth.