Rhode perceives his work as “a form of theatre” or “live cinema”, with each photograph decomposing an action. Prior to photography, his earlier practice was dominated with performances that took place first on the streets, later in museums and galleries. One of his performances was presented at the solo exhibition “Force of Circumstance” in 2017. Taking its title from Simone de Beauvoir’s memoir “La Force des choses” (1963), the show reveals through Rhode’s works a connection with the origin of cinema and fragmentation, evoking other dimensions from a metaphysical point of view.

In that performance, objects such as a briefcase, a bicycle, chairs, and a coat stand are all painted in black and hung on the wall. The artist dressed in black interacts with the objects, taking hold of them to make them leave their trace, and then he submerges his body in a bath full of ink before contemplating the result in front of a mirror.