Metro-Boulot-Dodo explore the perception of photography, alongside the complexities of an emotional relationship, in this challenging and insightful new media performance. An ensemble of three in a photographer's studio setting are accompanied by an ongoing soundtrack and visual imagery – both live and recorded – which are an onslaught on the eyes, ears and emotions.
Blown Up, inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blow Up, is a slick reflection on the seven-year relationship between an artist and the closest thing he's ever had to a 'muse'. Through physical vignettes and real-time photographic development, parallels are drawn between the relationship, the artform – and the Hindenberg disaster. However, the third appears to be rather a red herring, until a drawing together of the strands in the show's conclusion, in which it becomes clear that this is an exploration of the beauty and tragedy behind an image.
The photographer's recorded voice is a constant throughout this production, relating the development of his relationship to the process of photography. He has been taken through a series of events from which he's emerged enlightened with a memory (and a photograph) which celebrates that moment.
The photograph, as the disembodied voice reflects, seems to be something that people fear, particularly after a relationship, however much the image is of a moment to be celebrated. The clean presentation combining projected images and quotes provides a sterile but oddly touching insight into this man's feelings. He speaks matter of factly perhaps, at peace with what has come to pass; this is complemented by quotes about the photographic medium. There is no live voice to connect with, but the combination of live, physical movement and the ever-present voiceover project deep feeling and emotion.