Untitled (Steel Bar)

Commissioned to create a new performance for the 2025 Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc Biennale of Contemporary Art, whose theme was Augmented Bodies, Aurélien Dougé deliberately moves away from dominant technological and digital worldviews to pursue his ongoing exploration of the relationship between body and matter through a single, elemental object: a four-metre steel bar. On a square platform, the performer rotates continuously around their own axis while holding the bar in both hands. The object functions simultaneously as a physical constraint and an extension of the body, continually redistributing balance, force and lines of tension. The regularity of the rotation contrasts with the extreme slowness of the performer’s movements, sustaining a heightened state of attention in the viewer. Rudy Decelière’s sound composition accompanies the action, contributing to a powerful suspension of time. Conceived for presentation in a wide range of contexts, both indoors and outdoors, Untitled (Steel Bar) also exists as a three-channel video installation, produced in 2026 in collaboration with WIPART (Adrianne Louet and Claude Quéré).