Sophia Kidd on Paul Couillard

On Thursday, June 2, 2022, the Flow • embody in site 2022 symposium kicked off with an online lecture given by queer performance artist, curator, and scholar, Paul Couillard.

The latter two thirds of Couillard’s hour long talk, GESTURE: The materiality of animateness, was given against a virtual backdrop of a moving-slide representation of his performance art corpus. These traces of the artist’s body in past movement works were populated by the curator’s accessible and generous tone as well as scholar-speak in real-time. Host Martine Viale integrated the lecture with our own understanding, conscientiously leading into an introduction to Couillard’s multi-dimensional career, and inviting us to join in a Q & A after the lecture. We were encouraged by the artist to take advantage of any glitches in technology of his presentation to get up and stretch, move about, or make a cup of tea. This unique approach to technical difficulties was one of many gestures animating the soul and presence of Paul Couillard.