Skinless, the latest work by visual artist Theo Mercier, will be presented from November 21st to December 8th, 2024, at La Villette as part of the Festival d’Automne. The immersive performance invites the audience into a dramatic and unsettling world, constructed from 80 tons of local compressed garbage. In this “inverted Garden of Eden,” a transgressive love story unfolds between two characters, while a third, metallic figure looms overhead, symbolizing a society of constant surveillance.
Mercier’s piece explores themes of waste, desire, and societal disorder, with the refuse serving as a metaphor for discarded memories and suppressed desires. The couple’s passionate, yet tumultuous, relationship takes place on a bed made of used cardboard, their bodies dressed in latex suits, pushing against one another in a visceral and strangely erotic choreography. The piece challenges conventional norms, depicting love as an act of resistance in a world on the brink of collapse.
Skinless will also be shown in March 2025 at Le Volcan in Le Havre and in April 2025 at Les Subs in Lyon, offering audiences a chance to experience this radical, poetic dystopia in various locations.
Discover humanity and the passage of time through the lens of Théo Mercier’s art in our conversation with him.
‘Skinless’ (2024) by THÉO MERCIER
All photography by ERWAN FICHOU
