Pierre Bal-Blanc: A Collective Exhibition for One Body. Lecture and Workshop
We invite you to a lecture and workshop by curator Pierre Bal-Blanc.
Free Sculpture Studio (Drotárska cesta 44)
April 16, 2026 (Lecture) / April 21, 2026 (Workshop)
Annotation
A Collective Exhibition for One Body is a performative scenario created in 2015 by curator Pierre Bal-Blanc, in which the body becomes a site of collective presentation. Participants contribute gestures or actions assigned to specific parts of the body, transforming it into a living exhibition space. In 2017, the score was revised with the participation of selected artists and performed over two months in Kassel and Athens as part of documenta 14. Subsequently, the Vienna-based Kontakt Collection initiated a modified version reflecting works from its collection connected to the avant-garde movements of Eastern Europe. In November 2019, it was presented at the Playground festival in Leuven and later in Lisbon and Bucharest.
Workshop title: A Collective Exhibition for One Body – Bratislava Version
The body is divided into individual parts, as in an anatomical study. Each part (limbs, muscles, body sections, or organs) becomes a medium for an action coordinated by a designated facilitator and created by various invited authors or students. Each author must devise a gesture or action (simple or complex) and translate it into a score. The Bratislava version will, within the workshop, invite participants to create a new adaptation of the score based on the contributions of individual members.
Pierre Bal-Blanc
Pierre Bal-Blanc (1965) is a French independent curator and theorist based in Paris and Athens. In his long-term practice, he focuses on the critique of institutional frameworks and the analysis of relationships between the body, power, and capital. He gained broader international recognition as the curator of the international exhibition documenta 14 (2017) in Athens and Kassel. A significant part of his recent activities includes curatorial work with the Vienna-based Kontakt Collection, within which he developed the performative project The Private Score. Through works by artists from Central and Southeastern Europe, it reconsiders the exhibition format as a living score.
- The lecture and workshop are organized by the Department of Theory and History of Art, the Department of Sculpture, Object, Installation, and the Performance Laboratory.
- Both events were made possible thanks to the support of Kontakt Collection Vienna and the Július Koller Society.