Performance artist Leah Capaldi likes to push people’s buttons in a variety of ways. In 2008 she did a performance entitled ‘Allure’, referring to Chanel perfume. Capaldi sprayed an obnoxious amount of the perfume on herself before taking the busy London subway during rush hour, registering people’s reaction to her. She repeated the performance last year for the Catlin Art Prize ceremony, hiring two actors to walk through the art loving crowd and abundantly spray both men and women with the perfume.
According to Capaldi, different elements influence people’s reaction to her performances, gender being a significant one of them. She explores themes like desire, power and exploitations, and plays with stereotypes along the way. The former sculpturer now prefers performance art, often using her body as the main medium and testing its limits, and the limits of those around her.
At Incubate, a male performer will perform Capaldi’s ‘7 hours, 7 days’; a weeklong performance in which 93 love songs are sung, on repeat. The stage? This exhibition hall in the center of Tilburg. Instead of perfume, Capaldi will now the human voice in overdose to trigger her ‘audience’, and will invite them to join in singing. While this 49-hour performance carries on, the performer will inevitably start losing his voice, but hopefully not his spirit. This performance will be streamed online and in other rooms of the venues, to create a physical boundary between the performer(s) and the audience.
