Output details

Allure

Capaldi’s research is situated at the intersection of sculpture and performance, and examines the influence of culture on self-perception and, more specifically, on themes of taboo, power and desire. Her research asks: ‘If we perform as being objects, at what point do we become one?’ Building on the practices of artists such as Tino Sehgal and Andrea Fraser, Capaldi aims to transform the traditional perceptions of sculpture as defined by structure, form and weight through the employment of performance as a means of creating immersive experiences in which the audience is implicated, also participating in the construction of its legacy through completing feedback data. The works resist sale or commodification, irrespective of the use of high-profile brands, but also stimulate overt responses, and encourage reflexive audience participation and engagement.

‘Allure’ was commissioned for ‘New Contemporaries’ at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) where it was the only performance piece (with four three-hour performances per week over eight weeks). In late 2010 Capaldi researched the most popular perfumes and aftershaves that were worn in London galleries. Chanel’s Allure proved to be the most popular and was subsequently used by Capaldi to demarcate personal territories, distort identities, trigger memories and stimulate self-awareness in the exhibition space. Having doused each of the 42 male and female performers with the perfume (Allure or Allure Homme). Capaldi choreographed them to engage with the public while they were viewing the show, and to elicit responses that she subsequently recorded as a series of gender-specific feedback forms, which created both the myth and the archive of the work.

Reviewed in ‘The Independent’ (20/05/2011) and ‘The Guardian’ (22/05/2011), ‘Alllure’ toured to Sheffield and was commissioned and shown independently at Project Space Leeds (PSL). As a result of the piece Capaldi was ‘blacklisted’ by Chanel. SEE DIGITAL OUTPUT.