“Data Sampling / Ghost Suffering” is a physically intense yet silent performance based on sampling and sequencing techniques. My sampling ritual revolves around the manipulation and reenactment of epigenetic suffering which is then channelled towards the audience. By using improvisation and emotionally involving the audience, the performance can be described as a tribe-building experience.

“Data Sampling / Ghost Suffering” starts when I enter the space silently, walking through the audience to create a movement and find a balance. The body workout is a metaphorical countdown. Once the unspoken connection with the audience is established, I join a square space defined on the ground. This safe space is my epigenetic sanctuary.

Five objects lie on the ground, a sixth is hidden in my pocket. They embody six traumas. A blank frame, a small black board with chalk, a counter bell, a flask full of liquid, a mirror, and a few bandages stand between me and the most adventurous viewers in the audience.

My ritual is based on sampling past narratives, using the objects as sequences and my body language and muscular tension as a vibrant instrument. Each act serves to experiment shattered memories from Martinique to the French suburbs of Lyon. The first objects build up the muscular tension until they literally push me within the audience.

It is the tipping point of the performance. The viewers have become the living embodiment of the objects. They are part of an extreme epigenetic experience. I search for the bandages in my pocket and ask for their help to cover my scars. I finally accept them as my witnesses.

With my new tribe, I confront myself in the mirror, losing my breath. My body is one tense mass of organic poetry and social docudrama. The audience has almost stopped breathing, sharing my secret. The muscular tension is gone, the mirror is broken and my breath is back.

The square becomes a surrealist minefield of used objects, of different pasts. The last act of communion is to create a new memory sample. I am obsessed with the blank frame. I cherish it. While looking at the audience, I destroy it, erasing the space between me and the audience. I can see through it, through them.

I walk among them and then leave.