The Lion's Lockdown

Digital Performance

A monument where usually several thousand tourists from all over the world gather day after day, has become quiet in a state of emergency: the Lucerne Lion lies deserted. The Lucerne artists Barbara Hennig Marques and Olivia Lecomte take advantage of the peculiar situation in front of the monument and illustrate with the photo series "The Lion's Lockdown" the new sentiments of this disjointed time. The Lion's Monument 21 project of the Kunsthalle Lucerne publishes this impressive photographic art as a digital performance in social media and on its homepage almost daily until the beginning of June.

«The Lion's Lockdown» Fotos: Barbara Hennig Marques, Performance: Olivia Lecomte

For weeks we have been urged to stay at home, to keep our distance and to show respect for the health of each individual. The feeling of being alone for days on end is thought-provoking. We have been prescribed to take a break from our activity in a globalized world. Our freedom suddenly knows limits. Perhaps for the first time, we notice that being in a rush and focusing on productivity but also the desire to buy and the thirst for experience are not essential to our existence. “Stay at home”, “keep your distance”, “wash your hands”! Have become the motto of our time. We internalize them like a “stone monument”. The Lucerne artists Barbara Hennig Marques and Olivia Lecomte draw parallels between the Lion Monument and our condition: we are stuck as the lion has been for 199 years, while the unstoppable virus is spreading rapidly. In the series “Stay at Home”, “Keep Distance”, “Wash Hands”, “Lion’s Lockdown”, “Catch Drops”, “No Shaking Hands” and “Respect”, the artists devote themselves to different aspects of the lockdown, touching on critical points of the ordered calm: in the uniquely quiet beauty of the lion, they show the human being as an extra and visualize the boundaries between us as a glass pane. They expose the skin cracked by disinfectant and present imaginary conversational partners as a remedy against social loneliness. They address alcohol consumption as well as the violation of curfew. Barbara Hennig Marques and Olivia Lecomte present a picture of the lockdown that could not be clearer: Keeping people apart for long periods of time results in individuals turning into absurd monuments themselves.

Concept «The Lion’s Lockdown»