ARTIST AIDAN AMORE GETS A BIG HEAD FOR HIS 1ST MUSIC VIDEO COVERING DAVID BOWIE’S ‘LIFE ON MARS’ Releasing on YouTube, Friday 28 October 2022 8PM (CET).

Had he been born in 16th century Italy, we would call Aidan Amore a Renaissance Man. However, the Paris-based artist belongs to the last Millenials born in Switzerland before 2000. So one must combine hashtags to try and pin down an #ActorPerformer, #ArtistCreator or even #SingerSongwriter, whose name has started emerging in popular cultural press like Les Inrockuptibles. In reality, Amore revels in challenging clear-cut labels by calling himself a cre a c t o r whose persona strives to embody itself through new narratives in film, music and art, to better part from the dictates of a normative culture as ordained by imperialist, white-supremacist, capitalist patriarchy. His artistic hopes are thus to nourish the imagination of a change-thirsty Youth with empowering stories about their joint venture in nurturing cultural shifts required on a poetically utopian but nonetheless substantial quest for tomorrow’s global society, built upon mutual understanding for long-term sustainability, supported by broader diversity, better education, as well as more equity and inclusion.

On the occasion of his first musical release, Amore gathers a semi-virtual ensemble of international talents for an artistic residency at La Grange du Chapallaz (in Denens, Switzerland), with “carte-blanche” from the tenants of this unique creation space. In turn, a transdisciplinary team operates at converting the venue into a shooting studio to produce a singular tribute video to Life On Mars ? by David Bowie, whose 75th birthday was celebrated last January 8. Co-produced by No Greater No Lesser Creation, Redgun and Vevey Paris Films, Life On Mars purposely sets apart from the original track (which title bares an interrogation mark) in order to go beyond a simple cover as homage to pop-culture’s Starman. The aim is rather to investigate how the themes of a song released soon after the first Moon landing in 1969 resonate today in what the late French philosopher, Bruno Latour, calls “the critical zone” of Earthlings, in which in his opinion Humankind has still not quite “landed” on in 2022 despite the emergency of global warming. (cf; Bruno Latour’s interview on ARTE, juin 2022)

So accompanying himself free-tempo with a keyboard carried by the mix of London-based music producer Bo Morgan, Amore covers the tune that music critic, Peter Dogget, already talked of then as a commentary about the ‘fabric of dreams and stars become stale with repetition’. So its voluntarily against the stream of shallow cover trends favouring vocal performance show-offs over an exploration of the piece from a new angle, that Amore strives to sonically put into moving images a point of view relevant to the current age. Through a funny pantomime floating in infinite white ether, the artist embodies the one he ironically refers to as his ‘avastar’ twin, MiNiMi©: a gigantic emulation of himself begotten in a creative collab’ with Amsterdam-based visual artist Hugo Béhérégeray, and Siksika Blackfoot costumier Kaitsauka® based in Paris.

Amore virtually gets a big head as if to better symbolise the ego ruling over number of actions in the physical dimension, where the hot-heads never stop swelling as hearts are closing off on themselves in the face of problems in a world whose “modernity” seems to have reached its limit if not its end, in Bruno Latour‘s opinion again. Habit of our times to adopt avatars for one is not enough by oneself anymore ? Escapist quest away from the harsh reality of our societies thanks to the big-bang of the metaverse ? Or else megalomaniac hopes for Humanity’s transfer to Mars, instead of landing at last on Earth ? As many notions of “modernity” that Life On Mars shall invite spectators to investigate for themselves when the music video hits the web on Friday October 28 2022 8PM (CET) on Aidan Amore’s YouTube channel, followed by a happening on Friday October 29 the whole day in Zürich-City. Called Are We for Real ? this happening will mark Amore’s first public appearance accompanied by his doppelgänger MiNiMi© to interview the population on their conception of “modernity”, with the benefits and the downfalls it evokes for them. Until then, you can get in touch with the eccentric duet on social media or stay informed on how to get involved in their current and upcoming projects by subscribing to a newsletter.