Hi!
My name is Thomas.
I’m an artist, astrologer
and creative consultant.
Born in Singapore of French parents,
I was raised in Cairo, Caracas, Texas.
I now live in Paris.
A trained industrial engineer,
former Studio Manager to Nan Goldin,
I’m deeply interested in identity,
its mystery
—an essence? a story?
how it intersects with technology
and systems of production
of meaning, both
ancient or contemporary,
with one eye forever on the
heaven
within.
words — movement — omens
Poet. Performance artist.
I make art about identity and technology.
Founder of Studio O
Star-led creative consulting
for artists, founders, brands.
Identity. Storytelling. Poetry.
Educator.
I create and lead
movement & creativity workshops
for all @LA DANSE
for corporations @Chanel, Yoplait
and institutions @Royal Academy Antwerp
Editor, Translator.
@Dossier, Numero Art, The Beyond Noise…
Inspired by the troubadours of Europe’s Dark Ages, I write and perform solo performances about how tech is changing how we are human, generating a new reality where every aspect of human experience is encoded, surveilled, commodified.
A possible title for my work: “Ceci n’est pas une fiction”
A trained industrial engineer, I worked for years as a sustainability consultant. My art practice began with photography in my late twenties, self-taught, leading me to work as studio manager to Nan Goldin for 3 years in Paris before moving to Belgium in 2014 to pursue an MFA in Photography at La Cambre School of Visual Arts (Brussels). This is where I began developing performative works using spoken word and dance as a way of relating to and questioning photography in the era of smartphones and social media. The beating heart of my art is LA DANSE, a playful movement practice I have been developing since 2014. Accessible to all and easy as ABC, LA DANSE is a space for radical self-expression through movement, a tech-free zone devoted to the pleasure of embodiment in a screen-obsessed society: far from images, far from words. It is this practice which catalyzed the shift of my work from 2D to spatial and performative, driven by a belief that what the world needs now is presence. I currently host LA DANSE monthly in central Paris.
A recipient of the 2017 DanceWEB scholarship at ImpulsTanz festival of contemporary dance (Vienna), I have been working as a performer in various collaborative ventures (Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Cie Mossoux-Bonté, Doris Uhlich...) while developing my own work which has been shown at WIELS in Brussels (Belgium), Float Gallery in Athens (Greece), the 2018 São Paulo Bienial (Brazil), the 2021 edition of Jeune Création, the 2024 edition of A Shaded View on Fashion Film (ASVOFF) in Paris (France) and most recently, as part of the exhibition Je suis là at Espace Vanderborght in Brussels (BE).
write me a sweet word
words@thomasdupal.com