MYRIAM BLEAU & NIEN TZU WENG

This edition of L.E.V Matadero presents Second Self, a hypnotic audiovisual performance created by Canadian artist Myriam Bleau together with Taiwanese-Canadian artist Nien Tzu Weng. This project examines how the increasing digitalization of the world is transforming our perception of the human, leading to a new form of hybrid existence. Through gestures, sound, movement, and projections, the artists use portable LED screens as body prostheses that function as mirrors, masks, or tactile interfaces. On stage, the performers transition from the physical to the virtual and from the human to the non-human, engaging in a scenic ritual that reflects on identity and technology through a cyborg aesthetic.

Inspired by Sherry Turkle’s theory of the screen as a “second self,” this performance places the audience in an in-between mixed reality where digital images, sound echoes, and mirror reflections mediate the connection with oneself. Second Self evokes the myth of Narcissus and Echo, playing with the idea of identity duality, the avatar, and the cyborg. With a staging loaded with symbolism and electronic sensibility, the piece invites us to contemplate what we are becoming as a species in a world where the boundaries between body and machine, between image and materiality, are increasingly blurred.