Arca’s carte blanche at the Bourse de commerce
Barre de pole dance, BDSM swing, mechanical rodeo bull, overturned car… It’s difficult to predict what to expect from a performance by the Venezuelan musician Arca, also known as Alejandra Ghersi, who is known for pushing the boundaries of the musical and scenic experience. Thus, it was with anticipation that the unique project The Light Comes in the Name of the Voice was unveiled on March 1st and 2nd at the Bourse de commerce. The program consisted of two evenings of electroacoustic improvisation in the impressive rotunda of the Parisian building, which hosts exhibitions from the Collection Pinault. However, for this weekend of carte blanche given to the singer and producer, there were no accessories or theatrical staging to clutter the space: just a circular stage featuring a grand piano, a bouquet of flowers, and electronic machines.
For nearly an hour and a half, she took us on an astonishing vocal and sonic soliloquy, blending spiritual experience with contemporary art performance. The event also allowed attendees to discover her lesser-known work as a painter, with a selection of paintings populated by grimacing faces.
A highly anticipated return to Paris ten years after her debut
The presence of Arca in Paris is indeed a significant event. Just ten years ago, the Venezuelan performed on the small stage at Point Éphémère in an intimate setting, alone behind her turntables. Seven albums later—including four from the Kick series released in 2022—the artist has become a true icon and a reference in the music industry: collaborations with Kanye West, FKA twigs, and especially Björk on two entire albums, remixes for Lady Gaga, and more recently, DJ sets opening for Beyoncé and Madonna. Despite this notable and growing success, the French public has had almost no opportunities to see her perform live. The unexpected announcement of this carte blanche at the Bourse de commerce therefore caused quite a stir: the few hundred tickets available for the two evenings of improvisation, followed by a night of DJ sets on Sunday with artists like Björk, sold out within minutes. The success of the event proves that many are eager to discover the new project of this musical free spirit who, between her feverish EPs in 2012 and her stunning mixtapes, follows her own rules.
Arca’s enchanting improvisation in the rotunda
This weekend, those expecting to dance to tracks from her latest albums were in for a surprise. In the first ten minutes, Arca set the tone by descending the building’s stairs slowly to the sound of her a capella voice before joining her arena surrounded by the audience. Standing behind her machines, sitting at her piano and harpsichord, or even crouching with her nose in the flowers, the artist—almost nude, her chest covered in sequined pasties—alternated between instruments and microphones as if she were a child in a toy store delighted by the possibilities offered by the objects at hand. With the help of discreet technicians hidden in the shadows, she played with lights and projections in the space—notes played on the piano sometimes reflected as sinuous lines on the walls, while the electronic sounds were represented by frantic lines reminiscent of an electrocardiogram—and with the camera filming her, controlled by a mechanical arm. When she wanted to make deep beats resonate throughout the building, which showcased its impressive acoustics on this occasion, Arca stretched her arms dramatically into the air, bathed in light, invoking sound like a magician.
Unpredictable, possessed, and mischievous, the singer never ceased to surprise and captivate the audience, playing with their frustration when abruptly interrupting a new movement in her performance, or sometimes irritating them when prolonging others. But the emotion returned when she grabbed the microphone to resonate her gnarls or let her voice soar. Back in 2017, her album Arca had proven it well: the strength of the artist lies in this incongruous yet skillfully mastered encounter between the raw and organic sounds of her countertenor voice and the sometimes aggressive martiality of her electronic compositions, interspersed with more lyrical moments. The result is a hybrid and baroque music, at the intersection of pop and experimental music.
Around eleven p.m. on Saturday night, when she was warned that only a few minutes remained, panic could be seen in the eyes of the artist caught up in her performance. Arca then grabbed her generous bouquet of flowers and threw them into the audience. The following twenty minutes were undoubtedly the climax of this spectacle, where she showcased the breadth of her palette: just seconds after resonating her cries throughout the rotunda, the high notes of the piano and harpsichord—revealing her exceptional playing skills—and her whispered voice gently concluded this intimate concert, leaving the audience bewildered and enchanted. Standing on one of the balconies, Björk observed her close friend and collaborator with admiration. The next day, the Icelandic artist paid tribute to her during a fiery set, providing a beautiful conclusion to this memorable weekend..
