ABSTRACT
Tino Sehgal occupied the Palais de Tokyo with bodies of performers moving in the museum space, creating “situations.” We interpret this from the perspective of “spacing” proposed by Beyes and Steyaert: a processual and minority construction of space. The approach is situated in the turn to affects that allows exposure as openly as possible to the aesthetic experience and triangulates between the performer’s position and the spectator’s. Performing spacing appears first and foremost as a paradox: how to produce what escapes major production? We then analyze how spacing is produced by means of a limited number of rules, which nevertheless leave some scope to the spontaneous. For performance purposes, a certain degree of policing seemed necessary and kept unchanged part of the distribution of the sensible (Rancière). Beyond this political aspect, by turning to two sentences by Arendt and Heidegger sung by the performers, we wonder whether the digital age, in its liquid transience and ephemeral connectivities – as well as spacing – can provide a place to settle. We conclude with a reflection on the possibility of representing, performing, and writing about spacing as organizing.
