Deceptive Bodies

Throughout history, the female body has been especially subjected to a controlled gaze. Vanden Eynde and Bouckaert immersed themselves in the phenomenon of hysteria, focussing in particular on how hysterics turned into actresses of their own illness at the end of the 19th century. The inexplicable physical symptoms of these women were often highly aesthetic and theatrical. In the name of scientific research their bodies became a form of art in front of an audience or a camera. But how sincere was the language of their bodies? And to what extent were the doctors manipulating the patients, and vice versa?

Bouckaert and Vanden Eynde transpose the issue of veracity and manipulation to the context of theatre. What happens to us when we are on stage? What transformation takes place there? How deceptive is the theatrical body we show? How ‘real’ can the body be, always wavering as it is between surrender and control, both subject to and guilty of diverse forms of manipulation and interpretation?

In Deceptive Bodies Vanden Eynde and Bouckaert closely observe their own and each other’s body. In an accumulation of physical manipulations and transformations, a highly personal iconography is being displayed. Exposing themselves in a series of still poses, they unmask stereotypical body images from the past and the present.

Deceptive Bodies is an intimate duet, powerfully dramatic and visual.

Deceptive Bodies, the museum version.

Without stage and lighting, the seperate scenes of Deceptive Bodies are performed in specific spots of the museum, in dialogue with the architecture and the exhibited art works. The public is being taken on an intimate trip across the museum, watching the theater scenes turn into visual installations.

Deceptive Bodies: almost ready for the go go go

At the invitation of Murielle Scherre, Dolores Bouckaert presents a derivative of Deceptive Bodies during the closing week of DRESS/UNDRESS at the Hasselt Fashion Museum. In Deceptive Bodies: almost ready for the go go go, Bouckaert explores representations and perceptions of the theatrical body, at the intersection of power and powerlessness. She scrutinises her own body and the bodies hiding behind the silhouettes of the expo, questioning past and present stereotypes. The performance is intimate, theatrical and visual. It wanders through the museum like progressive stillness.