Performance | Christian Falsnaes, GLITCH, 2024

Danish artist Christian Falsnaes is a clown in the noblest sense of the word. As a performer, he enjoys unravelling social rituals – from the vanity theater of an exhibition opening to the crowd of a demonstration – to reveal their logic while subverting them.

As part of Art Basel Paris 2024, he has created a collective performance in which four people, who have nothing to suggest that they are not regular art fair goers, behave normally until their bodies start to malfunction, to glitch. In the manner of non-playable characters (the extras in video games), these faux art world-ers take on absurd guises, highlighting in the process the well-oiled choreography of bodies at an art fair.

This performance unfolded in the Grand Palais, throughout the fair, from 11am to 8pm on Thursday 17 October.

GLITCH, 2024 was presented as part of the Art Basel Paris Conversations program curated by Pierre-Alexandre Mateos and Charles Teyssou.