Sisyphe

Sand artist Victor Pilon captures the audience in his reprised show Sisyphe at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam. Between 16 to 28 June, he moves sand in sensual harmony with his body. Using only a shovel and his strength of will, Victor Pilon creates 4D art to show the audience a new perspective on how we create our world around us.

The synopsis of the show from the Holland Festival:

“For 12 days, 6 days a week and 6 hours a day, artist Victor Pilon (Québec, Canada) will move tonnes of sand armed with nothing more than a simple shovel. The performance generates its own site-specific soundscape, featuring songs by Montreal-based band Dear Criminals.”

During these 12 days, 6 days a week and 6 hours a day, Victor moved a total of 300 tons of sand. Although some may see it as a man simply shovelling sand, they miss the opportunity to see the mesmerising movements and understand the meaning of trying to accomplish a task during a difficult time even though it may seem pointless. During these performances, he evokes raw emotions and brings a seriousness to elementary motions. At first glance it appears anyone could do this. Anyone could shovel sand and call it a performance. However, the more one reflects on the show the more one realises its true nature and the ability to call the performance an artistic piece.

A statement from Victor Pilon about the creativity behind the performance:

“The tragic death of my partner Sylvain led me to this project. We all have to mourn the fact that life is absurd in order to be able to arrive at a form of freedom, even happiness. As in the popular expression work work work, day after day, Sisyphus pushes his boulder to the top of a mountain, from where it always ends up coming down. This project is an effort to understand the existence, a desire for clarity, a quest for the why that dwells in all of us.”

The difficulty of expressing emotions such as grief on stage has always been a trial not easily completed by many artists. Victor Pilon had inspiration strike him with the original source material, grief itself. He displays this throughout his entire execution of his artwork. Once the audience comes to the realisation that Victor is not mimicking the classic tale of Sisyphus but rather embodying it entirely, the artwork unfolding before you becomes almost heartbreaking to witness. The sand is his boulder to move up the mountain only for it to fall again. While going through the sentiments that surround us with loss, it can often feel like we are throwing sand up into the air to have it fall back into our eyes. To remind the audience that we don’t see things clearly in the struggles that grief brings.

During the 6 hour long performances, audience members were able to enter and leave as they wanted as long as they wore their wristband given with their ticket. Several people returned multiple times to see the progress of the performance.

All images are courtesy of Louis-Daniel Vallée.

Drew Janine

Live Sound Engineer -EUROPE

Janine has always been a part of music and performing. The first show that inspired her to go into theatre was the Velveteen Rabbit which she saw as a child, and Drew works to keep that magic alive as working behind the scenes in theatre as a live sound engineer. When Drew was accepted into an internship program for audio engineering at a recording studio, she jumped at the opportunity. That was at the start of 2020 and so much has happened since then, both in her career and in the world. Since then, Drew has taken several opportunities to work at recording studios, concerts, festivals, and even large theatres while spending time on tour across the North American continent and Europe. Drew’s favourite by far though has been the chance to work on Broadway and West End shows, as this was a dream come true. Drew is honoured to get to share these experiences from being inside the entertainment industry and hopes to inspire others to continue working in theatre.

Return to Home