Performance

PERFORMANCE

ORLAN RELEASE PARTY DU SLOW DE L’ARTISTE, AFTER-PARTY, SILENCIO CLUB, 2023

To mark the launch of her first musical album “Le Slow de l’Artiste” on May 26, 2023, ORLAN will stage a release party/performance on May 31, 2023. She orchestrates a double event: The Grand Prix du Slow de l’Artiste at an album listening session in Olympia’s historic billiard room, and an After-Party, during the awards ceremony, with live performances and a DJ-set at the Silencio Club.

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Following her performance le baiser de l’artiste (the artist’s kiss) at the FIAC in 1977, ORLAN presents le slow de l’artiste (the artist’s slow), her very first “all slow” album! She wants to offer what we’ve missed most since March 17, 2020: human warmth, hugs, body-to-body… she wants to bring bodies closer together after the physical distancing!

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Photo : Octave de Bascher
ORLAN’S Designer : Beñat Moreno

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ORLAN RELEASE PARTY DU SLOW DE L’ARTISTE, GRAND PRIX DU JURY, SALLE DU BILLARD, OLYMPIA / AFTER-PARTY, SILENCIO CLUB, 2023

To mark the launch of her first musical album “Le Slow de l’Artiste” on May 26, 2023, ORLAN will stage a release party/performance on May 31, 2023. She orchestrates a double event: The Grand Prix du Slow de l’Artiste at an album listening session in Olympia’s historic billiard room, and an After-Party, during the awards ceremony, with live performances and a DJ-set at the Silencio Club.

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Following her performance le baiser de l’artiste (the artist’s kiss) at the FIAC in 1977, ORLAN presents le slow de l’artiste (the artist’s slow), her very first “all slow” album! She wants to offer what we’ve missed most since March 17, 2020: human warmth, hugs, body-to-body… she wants to bring bodies closer together after the physical distancing!

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Photo: Michael Huard/Say Who
ORLAN’S Designer : Beñat Moreno

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Showcase of
Slow de l’artiste
at CENTQUATRE Paris, with ORLAN, Sir Alice, Tentative, Demi Mondaine, Blue Carmen and Kat May, 2023

A few months before the release of her first musical album “Le Slow de L’Artiste”, ORLAN created an immersive art installation at the CENTQUATRE Paris, designed to tease out her future musical project. The album is previewed in this installation, on a loop, all day long. A video projection illustrates each of the songs, accompanied by a karaoke machine allowing the audience to sing along.

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Following her performance le baiser de l’artiste (the artist’s kiss) at the FIAC in 1977, ORLAN presents le slow de l’artiste (the artist’s slow), her very first “all slow” album! She wants to offer what we’ve missed most since March 17, 2020: human warmth, hugs, body-to-body… she wants to bring bodies closer together after the physical distancing!

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Photographer: Lorenzo De Freitas-Hillions

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SLOWSEXUEL.E.S event
at CENTQUATRE Paris, 2022

A few months before the release of her first musical album “Le Slow de L’Artiste”, ORLAN created an immersive art installation at the CENTQUATRE Paris, designed to tease out her future musical project. The album is previewed in this installation, on a loop, all day long. A video projection illustrates each of the songs, accompanied by a karaoke machine allowing the audience to sing along.

Show More

Following her performance le baiser de l’artiste (the artist’s kiss) at the FIAC in 1977, ORLAN presents le slow de l’artiste (the artist’s slow), her very first “all slow” album! She wants to offer what we’ve missed most since March 17, 2020: human warmth, hugs, body-to-body… she wants to bring bodies closer together after the physical distancing!

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Archive of the Slow de L’Artiste website

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Performance by ORLAN a la colombe, photographed by Pim Schalkwijk Mérida,



2022

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“Match Selavy”, This raft (is not) lonely , Mu.ZEE, Oostende, Belgium, 2017

Match Selavy was a large-scale public performance organized by Yann Fabre in a soccer stadium in Antwerp. Each of his guests was asked to dress as a character from the history of art. ORLAN dressed as Rose Selavy. When she arrived at the stadium, ORLAN  was surprised to find museum director Bart de Baere with a star-shaped tonsure. They immediately became a “couple” and while everyone else was trying to kick the ball, ORLAN and Bart de Baere were lying on the lawn playing chess on the checkerboard lining of ORLAN’s coat. They also walked limply from goal to goal, separately or arm in arm.

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Petition Against Death,
Biennial of Contemporary Art, Kiev, Ukraine, 2017

A programmed failure with no antidote. Until “the death of death”, is the title of Laurent Alexandre’s book, a firm believer in “the death of death”.

ORLAN invites you to sign her petition against death, which can be found on her website:

“Really, enough is enough. Enough is enough, we’ve never been asked our opinion, we’ve had to die for millennia, others have to die, our friends and family have to die. Often in unbearable pain, it’s disgusting. The loss of our faculties, the suffering of those condemned to death.

So if we all sign this petition together, we might stand a chance. The participation of everyone is necessary, and that’s the hardest part.”

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Carte Blanche For Three White Nights, SALÒ #19,

SALÒ, Paris, France, April 20,21,22 2017

In 2017, ORLAN was invited by Silencio to take part in the program of their other annex nightclub now called Salò, ( before, the Social Club). Their plan was to give well-known artists carte blanche to design and exhibit a 5-day program. ORLAN invites other artists to showcase their work.

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Tangible Striptease in Nanosequences,
Center des Arts, Enghien-les-Bains, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France,2016

ORLAN performs ” Tangible striptease en nanoséquences” at the Centre des Arts d’Enghien-les-Bains and Université Paris Diderot on Thursday, June 02, 2016 as part of the Bains Numériques festival. She works with Mael Le Mée and Sup’Biotech.

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MesuRage, M HKA, Antwerp, Belgium, 2012,17,20,21,22

ORLAN performed the M HKA MesuRAGE in Antwerp in 2017 wearing a knee brace and taking anti-inflammatory medication for a knee injury, despite her doctor’s contraindication. ORLAN was given a retrospective of the MesuRAGE by the museum’s director, Barte de Baere. 

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ORLAN created her MesuRAGE performance series between 1968 and 2017. As the artist’s name is written in all capital letters, the term RAGE emphasizes his refusal to toe the line, to fall in line, and to play the role that society wants to impose on us. 

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MesuRage, Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, United States, 2012

ORLAN created MesuRAGE for the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh in 2012 wearing a knee brace and taking anti-inflammatory medication for a knee injury, despite her doctor’s contraindication. For the occasion, ORLAN presented a major retrospective of MesuRAGE by Eric Shiner. 

She used her body to measure the entire façade of the museum, despite the pain.

ORLAN created her MesuRAGE performance series between 1968 and 2017. As the artist’s name is written in all capital letters, the term RAGE emphasizes his refusal to toe the line, to fall in line, and to play the role that society wants to impose on us. 

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Biopsy, Le manteau d’Arlequin, School of Anatomy and Human Biology, SymbioticA Laboratory, University of Perth, Australia, 2007

In the preface to Tiers-instruit, entitled “Laïcité”, Michel Serres describes the Harlequin who, having gradually removed all his layers of patchwork clothing during a round-the-world tour, presents a skin that is also in patchwork form. ORLAN was greatly inspired by this work, which she will read during the Biopsie performance.

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Lecture Le Plan du film, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France, 2001

In 1989 and 1992, ORLAN received two grants from FIACRE and the Fonds d’Innovation Artistique et Culturel en Rhône-Alpes, to take up a residency in Chennai (then called Madras), India. For her second three-and-a-half-month trip, she was accompanied by Stephan Oriach, a director with whom ORLAN had collaborated in the past.

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ORLAN creates a mock television program recorded live at the Fondation Cartier as part of the Soirées Nomades. Everything seemed real because there was a  real TV presenter, Alain Maneval, who with ORLAN asked questions and orchestrated the shoot.

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EXOGENOUS, 1997-2017

In 1997, ORLAN wanted to work with the forensic police on DNA sequencing, which had just been used to solve criminal cases.

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“Woman with head(s)”, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK, 1996

There are certain physical transformations that not even ORLAN can achieve without the help of magic. In Femme avec tête(s) (Woman with head(s)), an absolute counterpoint to images that chosify women by reducing them to their sexual attributes, she tackles the mind/body problem with her characteristic sense of humor. In this performance, staged at the ICA in London, ORLAN takes on her detractors head on. She collaborated with a magician who made her body disappear, leaving only her head. 9She answers questions posed by her own video image, such as “ORLAN, are you a copy or the original? Do you believe in God? Are you crazy?” by reading aloud texts by Antonin Artaud, Julia Kristeva, Eugénie Lemoine-Luccioni and Michel Serres, who inspired her to make her body “a place for public debate”.

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La Réincarnation de Sainte-ORLAN ou images nouvelles-images / 9th Operation-Surgery-Performance, 1993

On May 30, 1990, in a desecrated church called “All Saints” in Newcastle, England, ORLAN announced her decision to undertake Opérations-Chirurgicales-Performances in an inaugural performance-ritual, reading from her manifesto of Charnel Art, which she had written in 1989. 

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The 9th Opération-Chirurgicale-performance took place on December 14 1993 in New York in collaboration with the Sandra Gering Gallery. 

During this operation, ORLAN was operated on by the feminist surgeon Dr. Marjorie Kramer and costumed by ORLAN

The photographers were Robert Puglisi and Vladimir Sichov for Pipa-Press.

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La Réincarnation de Sainte-ORLAN ou images nouvelles-images / 7th Operation-Surgical-Performancecalled Omnipresence 1993

On May 30, 1990, in a desecrated church called “All Saints” in Newcastle, England, ORLAN announced her decision to undertake Opérations-Chirurgicales-Performances in an inaugural performance-ritual, reading from her manifesto of Charnel Art, which she had written in 1989. 

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The 7th surgical operation-performance, known as Omniprésence, took place on November 21 1993 in New York in collaboration with the Sandra Gering Gallery. 

During this operation, ORLAN was operated on by the feminist surgeon Dr. Marjorie Kramer and costumed by designer Lan Vu and her team. The photographers were Robert Puglisi and Vladimir Sichov for Sipa-Press (photos copyright-free). 

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6th Operation-Surgery-Performance at the Circus
Divers
in Liège,
Belgium, 1993

On May 30, 1990, in a desecrated church called “All Saints” in Newcastle, England, ORLAN announced her decision to undertake Opérations-Chirurgicales-Performances in an inaugural performance-ritual, reading from her manifesto of Charnel Art, which she had written in 1989. 

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La Réincarnation de Sainte-ORLAN ou images-nouvelles images / 5th Opération-Chirurgicale-Performance called Opération Opéra,
1991

On May 30, 1990, in a desecrated church called “All Saints” in Newcastle, England, ORLAN announced her decision to undertake Opérations-Chirurgicales-Performances in an inaugural performance-ritual, reading from her manifesto of Charnel Art, which she had written in 1989. 

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The 5th operation-surgical-performance, known as Operation-Opera, took place on July 06, 1991 in Paris. 

During this operation, ORLAN was operated on by Dr. Chérif Kamel Zahar and costumed by designer Franck Sorbier. During the performance, the artist read “Le Tiers Instruit” by Michel Serres.

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La Réincarnation de Sainte-ORLAN ou images-nouvelles images / 4th Operation-Surgery-Performance called Operation Success, 1991

On May 30, 1990, in a desecrated church called “All Saints” in Newcastle, England, ORLAN announced her decision to undertake Opérations-Chirurgicales-Performances in an inaugural performance-ritual, reading from her manifesto of Charnel Art, which she had written in 1989. 

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The 4th operation-surgical-performance, known as Operation Success or the ultimate masterpiece, took place on December 08 1990 in Paris. 

During this operation, ORLAN was operated on by Dr. Bernard Cornette de Saint-Cyr and costumed by designer Paco Rabanne.

During the performance, the artist read “La Robe” by Eugénie Lemoine-Luccioni and Lacan. The photographer was Alain Dohmé for Pipa-Press. ORLAN invites dancer Jimmy Blanche to strip, dance and sing during the operation.

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La Réincarnation de Sainte-ORLAN ou images nouvelles-images / 2nd Operation-Surgery-Performance,


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On May 30, 1990, in a desecrated church called “All Saints” in Newcastle, England, ORLAN announced her decision to undertake Opérations-Chirurgicales-Performances in an inaugural performance-ritual, reading from her manifesto of Charnel Art, which she had written in 1989. 

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The 2nd surgical-performance operation, known as La licorne, took place on July 25, 1990 in Paris. 

During this operation, ORLAN was operated on by Dr. Chérif Kamel Zaha.

During the performance, the artist read a text by Julia Kristeva.

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La Réincarnation de Sainte-ORLAN ou images nouvelles-images / 1st Operation-Surgery-Performancecalled Sheriff’s Block,


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On May 30, 1990, in a desecrated church called “All Saints” in Newcastle, England, ORLAN announced her decision to undertake Opérations-Chirurgicales-Performances in an inaugural performance-ritual, reading from her manifesto of Charnel Art, which she had written in 1989. 

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The 1st surgical-performance operation, known as Opération Shérif-Bloc, took place in Paris in 1986. 

During this operation, ORLAN was operated on by Dr. Chérif Kamel Zahar and costumed by herself. She wears her photographic canvas dress with a representation of her naked body. This first operation was used to create an installation of 9 black and white photographs.

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MesuRage, Guggenheim Museum,






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3


ORLAN created her MesuRAGE performance series between 1968 and 2017. As the artist’s name is written in all capital letters, the term RAGE emphasizes his refusal to toe the line, to fall in line, and to play the role that society wants to impose on us. 

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An ORLAN-CORPS-of-books,






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Between 1979 and 2007, ORLAN set up a series of performances she called ORLAN-CORPS-de-livres. The artist has a particular attachment to literature, which is probably an imprint of her father, who made books sacred in a locked library that she had no choice but to open. 

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ORLAN manipulating her various effigies glued to wood and cut out, performance, 1981

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Documentary study: Le Drapé-le Baroque, Baroque and Rococo ceilings, Espace lyonnais d’art contemporain,


France,

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ORLAN creates the performance Plafond baroque et rococo in her installation La Chapelle élevée à moi-même (mise en scène pour une Sainte), one of the key works in the Etude Documentaire series: le Drapé-le Baroque. It condenses various aspects of the artist’s reflections on the Baroque into an extravagant sensory installation. Built for the Made in France exhibition at the Espace lyonnais d’art contemporain, the monumental chapel measured 10m². Both an installation and a performance space, the Chapelle functioned as a work of art in the artist’s absence, and as a set designed for the performance. 

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MesuRage de la place St.-Lambert, Liège, Belgium, 1980

In 1980, ORLAN created the MesuRAGE for Liège’s Place Saint-Lambert. By this time, the square had been completely demolished and was now just a huge gaping hole in the middle of Liège, with no plans for reconstruction.

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ORLAN created her MesuRAGE performance series between 1968 and 2017. As the artist’s name is written in all capital letters, the term RAGE emphasizes his refusal to toe the line, to fall in line, and to play the role that society wants to impose on us. 

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Documentary study: Le Drapé-le Baroque, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1980

ORLAN’s performance of L’étude documentaire: Le Drapé-le Baroque took place several times in her life. In 1980, she presented it at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, at the end of the procession for the 11th Biennale d’Art Contemporain. ORLAN began the performance in a Plexiglas shrine from which only one of her fingers emerged, the finger of designation.

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MesuRage, I.C.C, Antwerp, Belgium, 1980

ORLAN created her MesuRAGE performance series between 1968 and 2017. As the artist’s name is written in all capital letters, the term RAGE emphasizes his refusal to toe the line, to fall in line, and to play the role that society wants to impose on us. 

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Emergency G.E.U.,


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80

In 1980, at the second performance symposium organized by ORLAN, a very painful event occurred in her life. 

On the first day of the symposium, ORLAN had an ectopic pregnancy. If you don’t want to die, you have to undergo surgery within forty minutes of the onset of pain.

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Documentary study: Le Drapé-the Baroque, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy, 1978

In her performance at Venice’s Palazzo Grassi in 1979, ORLAN continued her Documentary Study: Le Drapé-Le Baroque. ORLAN began the performance in a Plexiglas shrine from which only one of her fingers emerged, the finger of designation.

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D’ORLAN EN ORLAN: UNPACKING AND DEMULTIPLICATION, 1980

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MesuRage du Musée St.-Pierre, Lyon, France, 1979

ORLAN created her MesuRAGE performance series between 1968 and 2017. As the artist’s name is written in all capital letters, the term RAGE emphasizes his refusal to toe the line, to fall in line, and to play the role that society wants to impose on us. 

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Un ORLAN-CORPS-de-livres, Gallery NRA, Paris, France, Los Angeles, USA, 1978, 2005

Between 1979 and 2007, ORLAN set up a series of performances she called ORLAN-CORPS-de-livres. The artist has a particular attachment to literature, which is probably an imprint of her father, who made books sacred in a locked library that she had no choice but to open. 

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À Poil Sans Poils, Museum Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen, Germany, Paris, France, 1979

In 1979, ORLAN repeated her performance À Poil Sans Poils, created at the Musée du Louvre the previous year, this time at the Musée Sammlung Ludwig in Aachen, as part of a performance symposium.

ORLAN begins the performance wearing a long black coat covering her entire body. After pacing back and forth in front of the painting, she opened her coat, revealing my nude body as a trompe-l’œil dress photographed on canvas.

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Medusa’s Head


Performance at Sammlung Ludwig, Aachen, Germany, 1978-2024

ORLAN wanted to see if Freud’s words were true: “At the sight of the vulva, even the devil flees. In 1978, she created a performance, Medusa’s Head, at the Sammlung Ludwig in Aachen, distributing this text by the psychoanalyst

Austrian. Facing the audience, who stepped forward one by one into a narrow space made up of two large black-painted wooden picture rails, set in a triangle, ORLAN showed her sex in front of a large magnifying glass at the time of her menstruation. On the one hand, her hair was

painted blue, on the other they were au naturel. Two video monitors were set up at the entrance, one showing the reaction of the person observing the vulva, the other showing those who were about to see it. Freud’s text The Head of Medusa was distributed to the audience at the exit, here is an excerpt:

“The sight of Medusa’s head makes the spectator rigid with dread, turning him to stone. Same origin from the castration complex and same change of afect. For to become rigid means erection, and thus, in the original situation, consolation for the spectator. He still has a penis, he makes sure of it by becoming rigid himself.” 

And indeed, some spectators were, rigid!

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À Poil Sans Poils, Performance at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, France, 1978

After her performance “S’habiller de sa propre nudité”, ORLAN repeated the experience of public nudity, or rather its representation, in 1978, with her performance “À poils sans poils” at the Musée du Louvre. 

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Exchange , changeons, Angoulême, France, 1978

In 1978, ORLAN staged a performance entitled “Échangeons, changeons” in Angoulême. ORLAN drove around town in a van, offering passers-by the chance to exchange their clothes for hers. They would then get into the vehicle to change their clothes. A polaroid before-and-after photo was taken.    

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MesuRage,


Center Pompidou, Paris 1977

ORLAN created her MesuRAGE performance series between 1968 and 2017. As the artist’s name is written in all capital letters, the term RAGE emphasizes his refusal to toe the line, to fall in line, and to play the role that society wants to impose on us. 

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The Artist’s Kiss, FIAC, Grand Palais, Paris 1977

Le baiser de l’Artiste (1977) is a large sculpture featuring a black-painted pedestal. On one side stands ORLAN’s life-size effigy in black and white photo, disguised and draped as a Madonna. 

For 5 francs, candles could be placed at Sainte-ORLAN.

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The Artist’s Kiss , House of Culture, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal, 1976

ORLAN first performed her legendary Baiser de l’artiste in 1976, at the Maison de la Culture in Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. On a white-painted wooden plinth, on the left, is an image of ORLAN as Sainte-ORLAN, collaged on wood and cut to shape. In front of the effigy was a small container where the public could put their 5 francs. On the right, ORLAN climbs onto the pedestal, offering an artist’s kiss for 5 francs. This was a simplified version of the performance that would mark a turning point in ORLAN’s career a year later, at FIAC 1977.

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Selling yourself in small pieces on the market, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal,1976-77

ORLAN has worked extensively against beauty stereotypes. These omnipresent stereotypes are shortcuts, a simplistic way of organizing society.

In 1966-1967, ORLAN staged a performance in Caldas de Rainha, Portugal, entitled Se vendre sur les marchés en petits morceaux. This performance consisted of selling black-and-white photographs of her body parts glued to wood and detoured, displayed on a cart in a vegetable market, like a food product next to stalls of carrots, leeks and potatoes…

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Dressing in your own nakedness, Caldas da Rainha, Portugal, 1976-77

In the performance S’habiller de sa propre nudité (1976-77), ORLAN wanders through public gardens in Portugal, wearing a photograph of her naked body in the form of a photographic canvas dress covering her entirely.

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MeasuRage de la rue Châteaubriand, Nice, France, 1976

ORLAN created her MesuRAGE performance series between 1968 and 2017. As the artist’s name is written in all capital letters, the term RAGE emphasizes his refusal to toe the line, to fall in line, and to play the role that society wants to impose on us. 

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ORLAN-CORPS action, measuring institutions and streets. This is not a wish, St Peter’s Square Rome, Italy, 1968

ORLAN created her MesuRAGE performance series between 1968 and 2017. As the artist’s name is written in all capital letters, the term RAGE emphasizes his refusal to toe the line, to fall in line, and to play the role that society wants to impose on us. 

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In 1968, ORLAN created the MesuRAGE of Rome’s St Peter’s Square between the Vatican columns. This is the only MesuRage where ORLAN was unable to respect her protocol, and she didn’t have time to put on her trousseau dress. 

The Pontifical Swiss Guard came to arrest him to prevent him from performing. ORLAN had to improvise, declaring that she had made a pious vow to lie down and kneel at the Vatican. The guards were forced to allow her to complete her action.

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Plaisirs Brodés: Sewing-Clear-Dark or spotting semen stains on trousseau sheets,


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In 1968, ORLAN created Plaisirs Brodés, in which she spotted semen stains on the sheets of a trousseau.

ORLAN has created several works from the sheets in her trousseau. In her day, girls were given a wedding dowry that included sheets from the trousseau, which they had to embroider. Whenever ORLAN wanted to go out or read, her mother reminded her that she had to embroider her sheets with her initials and make days; to get ready for the wedding. 

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Action Or-lent: idling in the wrong direction,


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68

ORLAN began by performing in the street, reading her prosesies, her  peauaimes, but also taking slow-motion walks. From 1964, she created a performance entitled Action OR-lent: slow motion walks. She has walked the streets of Saint-Étienne, Toulon, Marseille, Nice, Avignon, Firminy and many other places. 

ORLAN walked very slowly through cities, using busy alleys and one-way streets at rush hour.

These early performances marked the beginning of his use of the body in public space as a non-violent artistic and disruptive gesture.

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