Bio NL

Ria Pacquée brak in de jaren tachtig internationaal door met een performanceserie met zelfbedachte personages; Madame & It. Door deze twee personae te laten infiltreren in de realiteit, voerde ze een artistiek onderzoek uit dat zich ophield op de dunne lijn tussen fictie en documentaire. In meer recent werk legt ze zich toe op foto- en videoproducties, maar haar ervaringen als performancekunstenaar spelen nog steeds een belangrijke rol in het proces.

Ria Pacquée is toeschouwer van het openbare leven (in haar foto's en video's) en ook deelnemer ervan (in haar performances). De straat is dan ook haar studiegebied, waarin ze ronddwaalt en discreet gebeurtenissen vastlegt. Ze koestert een interesse in rituelen, in de ‘onzin’ van religies, in anonieme stadswandelingen en in het verzamelen van de bijbehorende geluiden en beelden. Ze recreëert de werkelijkheid en eigent haar toe, door details uit hun alledaagse context te halen.

Bio EN

Ria Pacquée had her international breakthrough in the 1980s with a performance series featuring the self-conceived characters Madame & It. By infiltrating reality as these two personae, she carried out an artistic investigation on the thin line between fiction and documentary. In more recent work she focuses on photographic and video productions, but her experiences as a performance artist still play an important role in the process.

As a spectator of public life in her photographs and videos and as a participant in the performances, ‘the street’ is Ria Pacquée’s area of study – the living setting where she ‘rambles’ and discretely records events from her particular point of view. An interest in rituals, the ‘non-sense’ of religions, anonymous city wandering and the collecting of its accompanying sounds and images — a recreation and appropriation of reality by extracting details from their everyday context — are recurring themes in her work.

Lay down on the sofa

Pour a glass of wine, water, cola or coffee.

Breathe deeply.

Turn off your phone.

Create a sentence in your head (this can be done in a minute or take a few hours).

When you feel the sentence is right and you want to share it,go to a DIY Store, buy a spray can, choose your colour carefully, walk around in the city and try to find an abandoned house, warehouse, wall … then spray your sentence on it.

Take a photo from it and post it on Instagram under

‘Ididn’tdoit’

Go home.

Take off your shoes.

Go back lying on your sofa.

Detach yourself from the sentence.

Breathe deeply in and out and laugh hard at yourself.

Do it or don't