SKINSTRAP

2014>18 / Performance / Interactive

Performance vidéo – 35′ & 45’
Music : Gauthier Keyaerts
Co-production : La Balsamine.
Voice-over in French or English
Subtitles in:  English, Flemish, Portuguese, Spanish
Jury Selection of the 17th Japan Media Art Festival 2014

Self-fiction on the skin. Thomas Israel’s body becomes the screen for a visual poetry ride. A universal history of colours unfolds there, as well as an exploration of the artist’s fantasies, anguish and hopes.

In Skinstrap, Thomas Israel uses his body as a screen to unveal the universal story of color, followed by a self- fiction narrative projected directly on the skin.  The themes of the artist – such as body memory, the unconscious, relation to time – are poetically approached in this unique setting.
Referring to the long artistic history of the “landscape-Man” and of the anthropomorphic landscapes, he pushes it forward, thanks to today’s interactive techniques of body-mapping. The original spacialized music by Keyaerts Gauthier, long-time collaborator of the artist, adds a degree of immersion in this “inner-dive” into a complex and engaging psyche, guided by the warm voice of the artist. Synchronized with the release of ” Memento Body ,” the first monograph book of Thomas Israel, Skinstrap summarizes and revisits 10 years of life through artistic creation.

Skinstrap is laureat of the prestigious Japan Media Art Festival Award 2013.

«Inside my body: a cave. On its walls, drawings, scribbles, scraps of text, ancient historical relics.»

« Your anthropometries persist in me, I remember exactly the form of your breast in my hand, the size of our two bodies in relation to each other.»