Chinoiserie is based on a collection of around 2,000 bibelots. The show develops as a duel between two planes: a theatre scene with two actors and, next to it, the presentation of the bibelots in a large format video (organised in different series). Throughout the show, contrasts and parallels are established between the two planes. Given their difficulty in competing with the images, the actors make a foray into the video plane, where they sing pop songs that refer to the Orient (I Like Chinese, Little China Girl, Big in Japan, etc.); when they return to their set, they go into a detailed description of hundreds of bibelots. The show ends with a display of the ‘live’ bibelots which, in their smallness, were actually part of the theatre scene.

Chinoiserie (a title that alludes to Europe’s cultural appropriation of the ‘exotic’) is a wander around the construction of cultural identity, specifically iconography. The interest of the bibelots lies both in the possibility of them being faithful to what they represent and in their ability to give rise to representation.