Another Choreography Awaits
‘Breaking Free’ is a solo exhibition by Lieven De Boeck, showing at the Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré (CCCOD) in Tours from 7 November 2025 to 31 May 2026. Curated by Isabelle Reiher. The exhibition is open Wednesday–Sunday, 11 am–6 pm.
Upon entering, the first scene to appear is a group of dancing teenage girls making use of the large windows to examine their reflections. This imagery aligns unexpectedly with the pieces presented in Lieven’s exhibition. Perhaps it’s a coincidence: two entities searching for alternative expressions of identity, their colourful T-shirts echoing the exhibition’s queer colour palette. Are they aware of the events unfolding inside and of the fact that they are already essentially participating? As it turns out, they frequent this space to dance and have agreed to activate the work together later. Thus, the performance has begun in a space where an alternative choreography awaits.
Drawing upon his long-term research project, ‘The Archive of Disappearance’, Belgian artist Lieven De Boeck explores the tension between the visible and the absent, and how presence can be withdrawn and reclaimed. His practice adopts a queer lens, not as a reduction to gender identity, but as a tool to structure time and space differently and as an alternative approach to interrogating signifiers through open propositions.
The exhibition is not isolated from its surroundings: during the day, the city enters the building, and at night, the illuminated space extends back into the urban landscape. The visitor’s first encounter is with three simple volumes — a pyramid, a rectangular prism and a cube — constructed from painted fabrics and conceived as tent-like structures. Due to their geometric nature, they spontaneously engage in dialogue with the urban architecture and the white cube in which they are displayed. Echoing from the pyramid is the voice of ‘Le Corbeau’, the raven associated with anonymous, often defamatory letters in France. It reads messages that were once sent to De Boeck. These messages contain notes on metropolitan living from his time in New York in 2005, as well as sentiments of despair and eagerness. Resonating throughout the space, the voice introduces an intimate counter-rhythm to the more conceptual works on display.
The Parangolés function as protagonists in ‘Breaking Free’. Drawing on the work of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, they propagate art as a democratic experience rather than a static artefact, as Oiticica did in the 1960s in Rio’s favelas, where he created colourful, wearable objects. For Oiticica, they were ‘embodiments of life practices’; objects that generate meaning through participation. De Boeck translates this idea into a contemporary queer framework. His Parangolés, made from various pride flags, colourfully activate a broad spectrum of identities, inviting spectators to participate in the unfixing of the binary. This inclusive ethos continues in his book Breaking Free: Queer Temporality and Collaborative Art, in which instructions are provided for making the garments and performing the piece. During these performances, he extends the invitation to participate collectively by inviting bystanders to join in.
In Tours, seven samples of these Parangolés are displayed in an oval formation facing the public while they are not being used for performances. The tactile and inviting materials prompt viewers to consider how the fabrics might feel against their skin or how they might move within the garments. Far from being immobilised on their supports, they remind us of their dynamic quality.
The absence of performers is compensated by the visitors themselves. Without any instructions, spontaneous actions and micro-activations occur. A boy presses his ear to the painted canvas, drawn by Le Corbeau’s voice resonating inside. His mother gestures for him to keep his distance, but he continues to listen, responding instinctively to the sound. Moments later, he walks around the venue before sitting down by the window to watch the girls outside. His reaction embodies precisely what the exhibition evokes: an intuitive urge to engage with the installations.
Others follow, albeit in their own ways. The first to step into the ring of Parangolés is an elderly gentleman dressed in a heavy winter coat and tiny pink shorts, who begins to read the exhibition texts. His presence alters the arrangement, briefly aligning him with the colourful spectrum surrounding him and catching the attention of other visitors. It is a disarming moment: he stands there, briefly aligning himself with the colourful spectrum surrounding him. Curiosity sets in: is he aware of the various options implied? And which one would he choose?
Meanwhile, a highly curious art instructor leans against the wall, pondering questions, taking photos and announcing that he will bring his students along. They all move differently, each establishing their own means of participation.
De Boeck calls these people ‘sympathisers’: individuals who allow themselves to be moved and, whether deliberately or not, become part of the performance. The space allows for this. Its tactility, cheerful colours, and open layout trigger the imagination. There is no outside stance: everyone who enters the space, whether they are watching, lingering or abstaining, relates to the issue raised by ‘Breaking Free’.
Lieven does not regard this as a mere illustrative exhibition: it performs, even in stillness. Nothing is absolute; nothing fully possesses itself. The volumes are not just sculptures and the Parangolés are not just costumes. Everything gestures towards activation and its possibilities.
But what happens on days when no performance takes place? For De Boeck, the work does not diminish. He conceives of a non-linear perception of time, in which objects can generate meaning without having to perpetually bear it. Rather than finished pieces, he offers premises: elements in a fluid archive of his research. These allow for ‘becoming’: art as a personal and collective exploration yielding new insights and connections. This is his response to the commodification of art, which insists on clarity and productivity.
Community is essential to this process, but it is not rigidly defined; it grows organically through a network of friends, local queer communities, and sympathisers. Their presence is often fleeting yet vital. This raises the question of what happens in their absence. Can something that seeks to evade the institutional logistics of visibility be presented without compromising it to that very logic? By doing so, there is a risk that it will become fixed in form and substance when it would rather disappear, shift and transform.
This contradiction lies at the heart of De Boeck’s work, which does not offer a different outcome, but rather explores how art can behave beyond expectation. It resists closure and maintains its open form, even when it withdraws from view.