Paper Lane

Paper Lane, Olga de Soto’s durational performance, is an act of resistance to the digital revolution and the relentless proliferation of high-tech culture, excess and acceleration, which erode the silence necessary for contemplation, introspection and reflection. The work is rooted in the conviction that a radical slowing down has become essential, drawing inspiration from Alienation and Acceleration by the German sociologist and philosopher Hartmut Rosa. Paper Lane also takes its cue from the gesture employed by visual artist Sophie Whettnall in her works Longueur d’ondes and Plaster Landscapes. Conceived as a live intervention, the performance unfolds through a single, sustained gesture, extended over time into a continuous movement whose execution simultaneously shapes the space and generates the temporal rhythm of the work. This uninterrupted action is devoted to the continuous tearing of an exceptionally long surface. Entirely focused on splitting the material that serves both as its path and its support, the gesture becomes at once a ritual, an act of endurance and a form of meditation.