En Puntas by Javier Pérez

En Puntas by Javier Pérez

This article relates to Exhibit

During a pivotal scene in R.O. Kwon's novel Exhibit, a character mentions a short film he's viewed. In it, a ballerina performs atop a piano lid in customized pointe shoes; long kitchen knives have been attached to them, so she is literally dancing on points. This real-life film is the video-installation piece En Puntas ("on tips"), created by multimedia artist Javier Pérez.

Pérez was born in 1968 in Bilbao, Spain and currently lives in Barcelona. According to Wilde Gallery:

"His masterful works embody a distinctive blend of methods and materials, crafting a captivating visual language rich in potent metaphors and enigmatic symbolism. Pérez's art offers profound insights into the human condition and the cyclical nature of life, inviting viewers on an unforgettable journey of discovery. Building upon this dialectic vernacular, Javier Pérez has developed a multifaceted art practice in the fields of sculpture, photography, drawing, video and performance, which are used independently as well as together to create installations where interaction and exploration are essential."

He has exhibited his art in galleries around the world. His productions are often dark and disturbing, and they're always fascinating; En Puntas is no exception.

Created in 2013, the video was shot in the Teatre Municipal in Girona, Spain, and features French ballerina Amélie Ségarra. It starts with an anonymous man laboriously winding up a music box in a dark, empty theater. As the tinkling music begins, the dancer appears, sitting on top of a grand piano and tying on her toe shoes — modified with long, sharp kitchen knives protruding from them. She pulls herself up to standing on the piano lid using a rope, and then balances precariously on the tips of the knives. She proceeds to execute a heart-stopping performance atop the instrument, coming dangerously close to the edge at times, and at others nearly losing her balance. She cries out in pain and frustration as she stabs and slices at the piano beneath her. The entire execution seems unsteady, awkward, and sometimes violent — quite unlike the beautiful, graceful ballet we might expect. The viewer is never sure if the dancer is in control until the very end of the piece, when for several seconds she balances in complete stillness on the knife points, a breathtaking portrait of ultimate triumph.

It's an arresting work, at once horrifying and absorbing, terrifying and beautiful; one watches fearing the ballerina will fall but can't look away. The minimalist approach the artist takes to his subject and the close-up shots of the performance add to its intimacy.

According to multiple websites, the piece is meant to reveal "the weaknesses that become the boundaries between seemingly irreconcilable concepts such as: beauty and cruelty, fragility and violence, culture and nature or life and death." Most would probably agree it accomplishes this, creating an unforgettable viewing experience.

You can see extracts of the film on YouTube, and read an essay Kwon wrote on the work for Bookforum.

Teatre Municipal of Girona, Spain, via Wikimedia Commons

Filed under Music and the Arts

This "beyond the book article" relates to Exhibit. It originally ran in June 2024 and has been updated for the May 2025 paperback edition. Go to magazine.