Performance
Nikhil Chopra & Uriel Barthélémi
Fire x Fire– Combustion
With the support of Galleria Continua
Where does it hurt? Where does it comfort? Are we made of earth, water, air and fire?Visual artist Nikhil Chopra and electronic drummer/ musician Uriel Barthélémi explore different facets of fire, the primordial element that has shaped our relationship to the world and to sound.
Fire x Fire – Combustion is a sonic and visual exploration of the phenomenon of fire, an immersion in a performative experience over an extended period of time, constructed as a triptych. By projecting us into different sources of fire, natural or refined, magma or combustion, the two artists evoke and question – in images and through several incarnations of characters – the political choices of the use of fire in key periods, its multiple aspects, sacred, interior, industrial, spiritual. In a fascinating blend of music and visual art, Uriel Barthélémi’s drumming and Nikhil Chopra’s gigantic live drawings create an extraordinary performance.
Artists
Nikhil Chopra & Uriel Barthélémi
Curation
Asia NOW
Schedule
Friday 18.10 – 2:45 pm
Credits banner
Fire x Fire
Performed on 18 October 2016 at Gare du Nord (Paris) as part of the Parades for Fiac
About the artist
After studying at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Maharaja Sayaji Rao University, Baroda, India, Nikhil Chopra (b.1974, Kolkata) continued his studies in the USA in 2003 and returned to India in 2005 with a Master’s degree from Ohio State University. Nikhil Chopra’s artistic practice combines live performance, drawing, photography, sculpture and installation. His performances, often improvised, explore identity and its construction, autobiography and paternity, posing and self-portraiture. Chopra’s work reflects on the process of transformation and the role of duration in performance. He combines everyday life, memory and collective history and everyday acts such as eating, resting, washing and dressing, but also drawing and making clothes, become the process of creating a work of art and an essential part of the exhibition.
