The Elusive Self

TORCH Gallery presents The Elusive
Self, a one-week-only exhibition by MC de Waal during Amsterdam Dance
Event. This collaborative and multidisciplinary project is centered
around a leather suit, the result of an extensive search for the
right designers and materials. The outfit represents the ideal image
of an assertive amazon that the artist has fantasised about since
childhood.

Worn by a lifelike wax statue, the suit
becomes a desorienting statement piece. The v-shaped silhouette and
corresponding photographs of the three basic geometric shapes refer
to two kindred spirits of De Waal from a different time: German
singer and performer Klaus Nomi and German artist and choreographer
Oskar Schlemmer, who regarded his costumes for the mathematical
choreography of the Triadisches Ballett (1922) as 'walking
architecture'.

Also on view will be documentation of a
performance done by De Waal in the suit, to the new Italo disco song
Creatures of the Night by her alter ego Maxime Duvall. The exhibition
is completed by a new triptych of paintings by the Rotterdam
collective KAMP HORST inspired by the song.About the
artistHaving always worked on the crossroads between
photography, performance, music, fashion and the club scene, De Waal
is a seamless fit with ADE. Years of modelling taught her how to use
the body as a means of expression. Publicly pushing the boundaries of
self-alteration, she deals with the concepts of human identity and
the constructable man.

Rotterdam artist collective KAMP HORST
is known for its intense paintings with comic-like compositions,
depicting absurd humour and strange combinations of persons, animals
and objects.

Collaborators

KAMP HORST: paintings

Vanderwilt & MC de Waal: leather suit design

Italo Connection: Creaters of the Night remix

Silas Schletterer & Maxime Duvall: soundscape

Wessel Haaxman: performance video