Gerard & Kelly Turn Villa Benkemoun into a Living Clock for Les Rencontres d'Arles

During the opening week of Les Rencontres d'Arles, American duo Gerard & Kelly present On Time, a site-specific performance at Villa Benkemoun. The project temporarily reactivates Émile Sala's 1970s organic residence as a lived-in home, reversing its museum status. Two performers sleep inside the villa and activate it daily, moving through rooms with choreographed paths, spoken memories, and dance. Curator Raphaël Giannesini, invited by Brigitte Benkemoun, developed the program to explore new forms of inhabitation. The artists removed many existing objects to let the architecture speak. The performance responds to Sala's flowing curves and a tower that emphasizes time. Accompanying works include opposing digital clocks, a score drawing, and Défense de rire (2025), a wall lamp marking each hour. Performers Lenio Kaklea, Georges Labbat, and Matteo Manzoni inhabit the space from July 6–8, 2026. The project follows Gerard & Kelly's previous interventions at Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, Eileen Gray's E-1027, Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, Philip Johnson's Glass House, and the R.M. Schindler House. Here, the focus shifts from architectural icon to lived experience, embodying what Giannesini calls 'a lived modernism.' The villa itself becomes a clock, with bodies as moving hands.