For those who like acrobatics as well as existential life questions, there is L'absolu by Boris Gibé a walhalla. The extraordinary spectacle can be admired during Festival Circolo in Tilburg. In an empty silo at a height of 12 metres, acrobat (and metaphysician) Gibé confronts the audience with big life questions. With his act, he shows that circus and art can go hand in hand.
Anyone who walks into Boris Gibé's silo should not be frightened. To admire the spectacle, the spectator has to confront the height. On a balustrade in a cylinder 12 metres high, there are small chairs for the audience. These seats can only be reached via a high spiral staircase. As a spectator, you peer into the depths from your seat and during the performance, the space fills with a struggling Gibé. Balancing on his rope, he tries to find his place in the emptiness of the silo. At times he disappears into nothingness, only to return again.
Existentialist
While searching and balancing, Gibé, as a true existentialist, shows that life is about making choices. Entering the empty silo represents the beginning of human life. That is a dizzying emptiness, as the silo makes you feel. It is only when the acrobatic Gibé moves through the space as a work of art that life begins. He makes choices, tries, fails - and tries again. But it is only when we make choices that our human existence begins. The silo is the stage of an existentialist quest. That quest is defined by the fear of free fall.
The highest achievement during the existential quest is to find a morality or truth. According to Gibé, imagining this is the artist's job. Gibé is a big fan of the work of Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky (1932), who felt the same way. In The sealed time Tarkovsky examines the essence of art and comes to the conclusion that the artist must create precisely pure creation. But to do that, man must first face himself. During the act, Gibé grabs a gold-lined mirror and polishes it clean. Questioningly, he looks into the mirror and oppressive musical sounds swell in the background. With L'absolu Gibé reaches out to the viewer with a mirror and invites them to take a good look at themselves.
Void
Gibé's act also questions our relationship with matter. In a world of objects, we seem to feel supreme. Objects give control and when this control falls away, we feel uncomfortable. From the moment you walk into the silo, this happens. Inside the silo, there is nothing but emptiness. Thus, Gibé radically breaks our relationship with tangible objects. Radical, because Gibé leaves us with L'absolu left dejected with that same emptiness.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. The viewer sees Gibé experimenting with emptiness - and that is exactly the message. Emptiness offers space and is the palette for colouring your own life.
The French daily Le Monde previously called Gibé's act a poetic and sensory big bang. Those wishing to be startled can certainly do so with L'absolu out.
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