Map Me: Charlotte Vanden Eynde & Kurt Vandendriessche

It’s too late to write this, but you really should see Map Me. The performance could be stated as two acts filled with individual scenes. The first act is a variety of movie projections incorporating the two performers as screens. The second act is a series of performances of what I would define as dances.
The former started with the two figures stacking themselves so that their backs were to the audience. A white beam shifting to color bars accentuated the lush tones projection light takes when reflected off Caucasian flesh. The initial images are wonderful, languorous soft focus shifts of what appeared to be skin blemishes. The effect was not unlike the revelation of a dark room’s interior as ones eyes adjust. These images changed and accentuated their effect as new blemishes took their place, much as one might pour over a lover’s body, relishing in his or her intimate differences.
The effect was unfortunately lost as the images became more apparent. Viewing became less of an experience and more of a guessing game: “oh, that is a palm, oh that is a nipple, a mouth, an anus?” Here the pacing became labored and a particular scene of a board demolition in reverse revealing the figure/screen was belabored.
The second act was essentially flawless. What was presented appeared to be intimate explorations of couples. The choreography was gentle—each scene had a set of simple props, some of which had tension of potential violence (at the appearance of small shears I prayed there would be no blood letting, there wasn’t any, but each piece seemed to have a shocker) as if to punctuate the prosaic movements.
The premise could be generalized as a series of scenes influenced by a feminine Fluxus—something of Yoko Ono’s instructional art. The statements, if there were any, seemed straight forward enough, what seemed important to the works was the beauty of two individuals interacting in intimate games(well, as intimate as playing naked in front of a 50+ audience can be).
Posted by: Levi Hanes