Romina De Novellis and Luc Petton’s performance at Fiac Hors les Murs

Among The Outdoor Projects (Hors les Murs), a programme of contemporary artworks in emblematic and historic sites in the heart of Paris, notably in the Jardin des Plantes and the various sites of the National Museum of Natural History – the Grand Gallery of Evolution, the Greenhouses and the Menagerie, not to be missed Augurii by Romina De Novellis and Luc Petton.

The work stages the corporal and mental dialogue between a woman, Romina de Novellis, embodying humanity in all of its fragility, and vultures, tautological symbols of predatory behaviour and carnassial drives (that are certainly present in these birds, but perhaps also in humans). One may also see the representation of a certain duel at work in this complex and metaphorical artwork, in which humanity eventually tames its dark side.

A more Marxist reading might see humankind’s victorious struggle against financial capitalism, represented by its “vultures” or bottom-feeders.