A doppelganger actor is hired as a stand-in for the artist and “becomes the artist” by activating the artist’s mobile phone. The aim is to drain the whole battery of the artist’s phone until the phone shuts down. The doppelganger then puts the phone down on a chair and leaves the space.

In this performance there is a tension created by the engagement and disengagement between the group exhibition and the performance/performer. Very little occurs in physical space however online the performer is engaging with the public through specific access points

This work explores heterotopic space where audiences have the potential to create and occupy virtual space in order to interact with the performer. There is also a layer of mimicry/mirroring occurring where the audience embodies the same body position as the performer while engaging with the phone. Thrice the sapien was also generated by looking into autoscopic phenomena where a person experiences viewing themselves within an external space - basically seeing their double. Though this often takes place within hallucinatory occurrences or out of body experiences. Here the two doppelgangers (performer and phone) become three David Yu’s - hence the title Thrice the sapien.

Performer: Bo Hong Fu

Galerie Nicolas Robert

Toronto, Canada

2022