In "CHTHONIC ARCHIVE no.3: Orpheus at the Movies", a man goes to the movies and puts his phone on airplane mode as a pretext for ghosting his lover while she leaves voicemails for him.

The action takes place in a movie theater, then in a shopping galleria, in a car, and finally at the apartment shared by the lovers.

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CHTHONIC ARCHIVE is an ongoing performance art project and published series. Each piece threads gestural and radio acting into music and soundscapes framed by video installations. Published works document the premieres in texts and images.

CHTHONIC ARCHIVE’s performances fuse the aural intimacy of 1930s American radio dramas with stylized visual idioms inspired by traditional Japanese Noh theater. Story material is at once personal and archaic: the artist mines mythological terrain for glimpses of himself and his unfolding world.

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ARTIST BIO

Jordan Rountree’s studio practice uses Surrealist literary techniques to produce texts, music, illustrations, light and video installations, and performances. His work explores the edges of performance itself, over-reliance on social masks, and feelings of severance from nature.

He started acting on the public stage at the age of eleven, first on the Parisian theater boat la Péniche Opéra, then in museums, galleries, and nightclubs throughout his teenage years. While studying in high school in Japan, Rountree attended Noh performances for the first time and later based his practice on this form, embracing its minimalist style and use of drama, music, and dance. He has since appeared in national theaters and avant-garde spaces in Europe, including the Théâtre de la Bastille and the Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Paris, as well as the Ballhaus Ost in Berlin. He has also directed workshops at the Espace Van Gogh in Arles and been a resident artist at the Château Orquevaux where he was awarded the Denis Diderot grant.

Jordan Rountree is represented by Baert Gallery in Los Angeles and is based in Los Angeles and Paris.