P38

lisa laurent
the wizard is not real

the wizard is not real is a poetic and grotesque journey through sadness and absurdity, an attempt to move through sorrow without freezing it. Soberly equipped with a microphone and a table, lisa laurent cries. What emerges is not a catharsis, but a raw landscape where emotion becomes sound, gesture, and rhythm.

The performance unfolds like a failed symphony of sighs and silences, where fragility becomes a space for both humour and beauty. Through burlesque gestures and futile attempts at normality, lisa laurent exposes the tension between collapse and control, despair and lucidity.

the wizard is not real does not seek resolution. Instead, it lingers in the cracks - transforming discomfort and emotional overflow into fleeting moments of clarity, acceptance, and a more tender relationship with our limits.

lisa laurent is an artist based in Geneva (CH).

the work explores the representation of lisa’s own body through a lens of reflexivity and self-derision.

with a particular interest in the tension between control and exposure, lisa engages in a continual dismantling of form – physical, emotional, and spatial.

the performances present porous situations that question perception, heighten sensorial experience, and encourage deeper awareness and connection through acute emotion and vulnerability.

Date: Friday 14.08.2026
Meeting point:

Castello Visconteo, Locarno⁠
Via Bartolomeo Rusca 5, 6600 Locarno