The Long Arm

Video HDV, 2mn38 
Object: wood, Metal: 70x200x20cm
2017

 
Using the wood of an office desk, Nicolas Manenti have built a wearable, articulated but
heavy sculpture. The design of the object seems to be a mix between a wingsuit and a cartoonesque pair of puppet hands.


The video shows a 2 minutes performance in Daejeon, South Korea. Dressed in a suit and wearing his sculpture, Nicolas Manenti creates a strange choreography, made of ample, authoritarian gestures on a deserted monument, for an absent audience. Like the object, the performance condenses a wide range of gestures and evocations, from the early flight pionnieers to the politician speeches, The Long Arm highlights the thin line that separates heroism from ridicule.