A titanic performance by Victor Pilon

For 30 days, 6 days a week, 7 hours a day, Victor Pilon embodied Sisyphus in the East Hall of the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, where his mythological challenge was to move 50 tons of sand by tirelessly building and deconstructing his mountain with a simple shovel. Sisyphus in total represents 182 hours of performance, 300 tons of sand moved, 600 kilometers traveled, and thousands of spectators who were amazed and deeply moved by this inhuman challenge to which each of us can relate.

Prisoner of Tartarus, Sisyphus' eternal prison, Victor, armed with nothing but his shovel, recreates and modernizes the eternal punishment of ancient Greece. This physical, emotional, and mental performance, where authenticity, absurdity, and reality intertwine, draws inspiration from the famous Greek myth, as well as the equally famous philosophical essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, by the French writer Albert Camus. It is also influenced by a tragic event that profoundly altered Victor's life.

The tragic death of my partner Sylvain led me to this project. We all have to grieve the fact that life is absurd in order to perhaps eventually reach a form of freedom, maybe even happiness.

As in the popular expression “metro-boulot-dodo” (commute-work-sleep), day after day, Sisyphus pushes his rock to the top of a mountain, only to have it roll back down again. This project is an effort to understand the eternal repetition, to grasp the absurdity of existence—a desire for clarity, a quest for the why that lives within us all. – Victor Pilon

Notes on Albert Camus

This marathon performance is inspired by Albert Camus' philosophical essay The Myth of Sisyphus. In this work, Sisyphus' punishment serves as a metaphor for the human condition. For Camus, the awareness of absurdity can liberate Man, freeing him from illusory hope and helping him understand the importance of living in the present moment.

Here are some excerpts from articles and reviews of the performance:

"By building and deconstructing a mountain with a shovel, Victor Pilon delivered a physical, emotional, and mental performance unlike any other. […] [He made us] collectively feel the immense power of art."
Mario Girard, La Presse

"Victor Pilon […] chose to shovel the impossible rather than sink into the quicksand of grief."
André Lavoie, Le Devoir

"I was truly moved. I didn’t expect to be so blown away by [his performance]. It’s really something to see."
Eugénie Lépine-Blondeau, Tout un matin

"I told myself, 'I’ll spend 15–20 minutes here,' and after an hour and a half, I left thinking, 'I’m missing something.'"
Johanne Despins, Culture Club

"It's poetic... it's philosophical... it's moving."
Myriam Fehmiu, Samedi et rien d’autre

"The beauty of it all: it’s the gesture. I highly recommend it!"
Marie-Christine Blais, Dessine-moi un dimanche

"In his deep dive into life, art, and grief with Sisyphus, Victor Pilon evokes the true essences of existence."
Brandon Lorimer, Art-Critique.com (En anglais)

"I attended a little over an hour of Sisyphus and was captivated by the evolution of the performance." Marc-Yvan Coulombe, Les ArtsZé

"An immersive reflection on the human condition. […] Definitely worth seeing and re-seeing." Aymeric Tardif, Le délit français