Video, 4’46’’, 4/3, with Patricia and Marie-France Martin, Carine Peeters, Johanne Saunier. Music: H. Oehring & I. ter Schiphorst, (Prae-Senz, extracts). (N.F.S.)
Obsession and fetish are the two words that spring to mind when viewing the Martin's video 'Un et un à présent ça fait deux avant ça ne faisait qu'un'. With a sensuality amplified by the slow motion, four women try on dozens of silk and nylon stockings vainly attempting to find a matching pair. We see only their feet and legs, hands and forearms as they slide on and peel off these diaphanous layers, whose veils tempt rather than conceal, in a subtly erotic spectacle. The hauting sounds sampled from Prae-Senz by Helmut Oehring and Iris ter Schiphorts, lend an air of the uncanny to the visual of this mesmeric and compelling work.
Roy Exley, Art Press 264, 2001
The Martin sisters were born in the Rhône Valley in Switzerland. They studied at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and now live in Brussels and Lyon. Using their own lives as the starting point for performative investigations, they integrate in their installations/presentations different media such as drawing, soundtracks, embroidery, art history images, painting, photography, sculpture and video; the text, narrated or projected, remains the main element of their performances.
In their scripts and performances, feelings are mercilessly probed, tracked down, disrupted and dissected. They speak in a mix of Swiss French, Belgian, French and English. The language is rich, wavering, elliptical…’ . They invent multiple identities that enter into their narratives.
Their texts have been published and their performances presented at ENS in Lyon; Panthéon-Sorbonne, Fondation Ricard, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Centre Culturel Suisse et Centre Pompidou, Paris; Centre Pompidou, Metz; actOral, Marseille; L’Escale du Livre, Bordeaux; Halles de Schaerbeek, Centrale for Contemporary Art, Brigittines and Iselp, La Bellone, Brussels; Ferme-Asile, Sion and Théâtre les Halles, Sierre, Switzerland.
Since 2008 they have presented episodes of an on-going performative series titled ‘Patrick’ in museums, art institutions, contemporary art centres and galleries.
'PATRICK 13 dramolets’ a book surveying the entire ‘Patrick’ series will be published by art&fiction in the collection ‘ShushLarry’ early 2021.
Their work is included in collection in Switzerland, Germany, UK, France and Belgium.
