Sounds from another world drift through a dark room, in the centre of which lies a gigantic green cube. The illuminated structure dims and slowly lifts off the ground to reveal the presence of a man dressed in a black suit. As the cube rises, it exposes the man’s head, which is cut by a funnel-shaped collar filled with pieces of glass that conceal his face. The collar is attached to the cube with four cables, which drag the performer’s body along like a string puppet. Gradually the performer undresses. When he removes his mask, a resounding crash of broken glass echoes violently through the room. The man’s face is now visible to all. He falls to the ground, as if crushed by the outside world.

Is this an inquiry into the so-called modern man’s trapped condition, his yearning for freedom or, conversely, his submissiveness to social alienation? Yann Marussich opens up a metaphorical field of human condition in which all codes are forgotten. Whether he works with symbols, which he happily hijacks–the smart suit, the box, the cube, the trap, the separation, and the elevation–he uses them to go beyond the image of suffering that modern pictures and iconic symbols convey. He looks for the best angle to enable human beings to be more serene in a given environment. Glassed is a complete work in which the author has total control of the risks at stake. He knows how to deal with the lack of air, the risk of being cut and how to transform this into a breathless and moving experience.


Text: Anne Rochat
English translation: AJS Craker