(Centre Pompidou)
Queen is an approximately 40 minute performance, consisting of the melting of a red worn made out of ice: an impossible reign made visible.
The performance was presented during the first edition of Artklub at the Centre Pompidou.
photography: Tatiana Matillat
in collaboration with Martin Pérénom
TAILS/TALES is a theater show, telling the transidentity of Tuna Mess through the figure of the bluefin tuna. From the misogynistic insult to the can of food, the fish is everywhere, serving a new interpretation of the mermaid myth.
The performance mixes acoustic music and recordings. The reappropriation of existing texts and music partitions (more or less disguised) articulates the narrative. References confront and merge, from pop to baroque music.
The scenography, beyond a grand piano, is deliberately reduced to costumes: the clothing leads us through the scenes, from the bottom of the ocean to the cabaret.
design, costume, lyrics, and performance: Tuna Mess
musical creation and performance: Martin Pérénom
production: Ginger Productions
featuring Dee Huang (musical creation),
Bili Bellegarde (vocals), and Loa Mercury (vocals)
photography: Yann Morrison (portrait)
photography: Marina Viguier (show)
in collaboration with Sylvain Raillard
Wreath is a 3D printed face accessory made from the scan of a metallic rose stem. The accessory was painted red and used for the poster of the show TAILS/TALES.
(Palais Galliera)
A dress made out of rings and figaro chains is covered of carnations. The metallic elements are chose for their religious symbolics, and the use of carnations privileged for, in the nineteenth century, it is the flower given to comedians a theatre director no longer wish to work with. The flowers are passed through the rings of the dress making their removal possible during performance. To strip down, the performer must throw the flowers away.
photography: Sylvain Raillard
in collaboration with Martin Pérénom
In the Walloon folklore, effigies of witches called Macrales are burnt at the end of the year. This performance interrogates how traditions affect queer identities, as it's performed near Liege (birthplace of the artist). A dress made out of rings and figaro chains is covered of flowers. They are passed through the rings of the dress allowing the performer to strip down, as she throws the flowers away.
The performance takes approximately 9 minutes.
The music is a live recording made in Paris (where the artist now lives). The pianist Martin Pérénom improvises as he is watching the performance, giving a musical interpretation to the existing captation.
video: Gert-Jan Verdeyen
captation: Giel Dhaenens
editing: Thibaut Rozand
music: Martin Pérénom
(MAD Brussels)
Queen is an approximately 40 minute performance, consisting of the melting of a black crown made out of ice: an impossible reign made visible.
The performance was presented during the opening of the exhibition Fashion Moves at the MAD Brussels.
photography: Annika Wallis
assistants: Sylvain Raillard, William Sansen
in collaboration with Dee Huang and Simon Lemonnier
(MAD Brussels)
Metal is a two track record exploring the sounds of tin cans. The first track (called Sequins) was created from the sounds of a dress mode out of metallic elements, including can lids used as sequins. The second (called Cans) is an improvisation on a drum kit augmented by instruments created from tin cans and other metallic elements.
Ten copies of a vinyl disk (with sleeve) were produced.
The dress used for the first track was exhibited in the MAD Brussels as part of their exhibition Fashion Moves. Headphones allowed the audience to listen to Sequins.
photography: Marina Viguier
(Carreau du Temple)
Created for the Festival Everybody, the workshop Quick Drag invited strangers to create their own persona and disobey beauty standards. The audience was given make up, wigs, unconventional material and accessories, allowing them to celebrate and hijack the codes of drag. Sessions would be deliberately short to make the process impulsive/instinctive. Small polaroid photographies would then be taken and given to the participants.
photography: Georges Torbey
in collaboration with Quentin Estève
A wide black dress, borrowing codes from the eighteenth-century court’s wardrobe, is kept in movement through the use of a fan. Its spectacle no longer depends on the performer’s body, interrogating what remains of the performance the costume previously served.
assistant: Georges Torbey
photography: Lucrèce Hamon
light: Maxime Goncalves
Queen is the recording of an approximately 40 minute performance, consisting of the melting of a red crown made out of ice: an impossible reign made visible. The video is 29 minute long. The complete performance couldnt be recorded as the camera stopped filming after that.
In June 2024, Queen was projected in the Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille as part of the event Drag Palace.
assistant: Sylvain Raillard
editing: Thibaut Rozand
in collaboration with Sylvain Raillard
Prosthetics is an ongoing series of 3D printed face accessories. Their designs are inspired by both organic and mechanical figures. Instrument and body combines.
photography: Lucrère Hamon
in collaboration with Quentin Estève
Over five hundred metallic monograms are assembled by hand to create a piece covering face and body, considerably reducing the movements of the performer. The design of the monograms, while combining Tuna Mess’s initials, also operates as a trademark symbol. The lower case of the letter T is used for its ressemblance to a fishing hook.
monogram: Georges Torbey
photography: Lucrèce Hamon
light: Yi-Chen Lee
The Hooker Scarf is a printed twill-silk scarf hijacking the codes of the tradition of luxury, showcasing elements considered crude or vulgar. Hooks, fishing rods and shower hose interlace around a monogram.
The design of the monograms, while combining Tuna Mess’s initials, also operates as a trademark symbol. The lower case of the letter T is used for its ressemblance to a fishing hook.
The scarf is made and printed in Italy.
monogram: Georges Torbey
in collaboration with Georges Torbey
Trademark is a series of objects inviting others to become Tuna Mess. All objects are designed after a monogram which, while combining Tuna Mess’s initials, also operates as a trademark symbol. The lower case of the letter T is used for its ressemblance to a fishing hook.
The Trademark Earrings and Bracelet are 3D printed nylon sculptures created in collaboration with Sylvain Raillard. Their design acts an anamorphosis of the monogram. For the earrings, the two letters must be assemble trough the ears to hold on. To wrap the two letters around the arm, the wrist must pass trough the initials.
The limited editions are sealed in a tin foil can. The stickers were designed to ressemble museum labels.
with Camille Boisaubert, Georges Torbey and Juliet Merie