Tris Vonna-Michell

“All you need to know is that he loves quail eggs.” This is what Vonna-Michell’s father told him about French sound poet Henri Chopin, who subsequently has been the subject of a decade-long research project. Vonna-Michell’s rapid-fire monologue ties together the debris of this research in an opaque cabinet of wonders.

Entangled (hi)stories transform a museum into a sitcom. Storytellers and voices amongst others: Yoko Ono, Tris Vonna-Michell & Bruce LaBruce as well as Maurizio Cattelan's horse coming to life and triggering further events.

Smoke & Mirrors proceeds by verbal and visual free association, as Vonna-Michell, sitting in the ‘fabricated grotto’ of a sauna, recollects both his difficult acquisition of a defunct audiovisual company’s inventory, and the many cultural and personal memories this archive triggers within him.

Japan, Tokyo 2008, a journey. Tris Vonna-Michell returns after seven years. Back to a city in which he lived on the streets for five weeks. Registers deals with a story from the artist’s life. A story about his time in Japan, presented as a monologue, visually as a slide show, musically accompanied by a montage of compositions by Jan Matthé, Field Recordings, and guided by the voice of the artist.

“All you need to know is that he loves quail eggs.” This is what Vonna-Michell’s father told him about French sound poet Henri Chopin, who subsequently has been the subject of a decade-long research project. Vonna-Michell’s rapid-fire monologue ties together the debris of this research in an opaque cabinet of wonders.

“All you need to know is that he loves quail eggs.” This is what Vonna-Michell’s father told him about French sound poet Henri Chopin, who subsequently has been the subject of a decade-long research project. Vonna-Michell’s rapid-fire monologue ties together the debris of this research in an opaque cabinet of wonders.

Smoke & Mirrors proceeds by verbal and visual free association, as Vonna-Michell, sitting in the ‘fabricated grotto’ of a sauna, recollects both his difficult acquisition of a defunct audiovisual company’s inventory, and the many cultural and personal memories this archive triggers within him.

Japan, Tokyo 2008, a journey. Tris Vonna-Michell returns after seven years. Back to a city in which he lived on the streets for five weeks. Registers deals with a story from the artist’s life. A story about his time in Japan, presented as a monologue, visually as a slide show, musically accompanied by a montage of compositions by Jan Matthé, Field Recordings, and guided by the voice of the artist.