Mistress Cindy

“Cindy”, as a pseudonym, owes nothing to chance. Just like the American photographer Cindy Sherman, who stages herself in every one of her works, Mistress Cindy, dominatrix, scenographer and trans-disciplinary artist, stages sadomasochistic relationships.A former dealer in contemporary art, her interest in sadomasochism forms the basis of her inspiration and provides a prop for creation. Her early experiences as a dominatrix took place outdoors, where she used the natural environment as an adventure playground, mastering the techniques of sadomasochistic practice by playing on the aesthetics of staging and on arranging the human body in space.In 1999, she moved to Paris and opened a dungeon reflecting her persona, before undertaking public performances. For example, in June 2001, at the Pompidou Centre, in the framework of Francois Angelier’s «Revues parlées», she presented «Fantasmes des liés», an acoustic and body staging which anticipated international events that shook the world later that year, as it represented the  concept of submissions ambiguity as a function of various cultural contexts.Her work draws on a variety of fields - performances, poetry (published on her blog), short films, one of which, «Abysses», was shown at the lesbian-gay festival at the Grand Rex cinema in Paris, in November 2008.While her recurring theme is sadomasochism, in its many forms, she stands out in her approach by the original manner in which she handles her games, leading to surpassing of oneself in a spirit of creativity. Continuing to explore sadomasochistic games, she decides in 2012 to make greater use of new technologies by introducing a new digital staging dimension into the sadomasochistic universe, where all senses are emphasized. Mistress Cindy is an innovative figure in the world of dominatrixes, distancing herself from stereotypes, and her cutting-edge work questions the lack of innovation in the sadomasochistic scene.Rather like a laboratory, her dungeon is also a place where artists, visual artists or composers, can create... For example, in 2009, the composer Frédéric Acquaviva was in residence there for two months to create his work «Le Disque», which was performed the same year at the Paris museum of modern art (Palais de Tokyo). Currently, while the site is being adapted to multimedia, Mistress Cindy is attempting, by the mean of her cultural and trans-disciplinary project sm.art, to move beyond creation towards an approach seeking to open and share such artistic experimentations during sessions where invited artists and speakers will evoke the common theme of the relationship with the body.Mistress Cindy is also committed to giving a positive image of sadomasochistic relationships by taking part in various radio talk-shows. In 2006, she was the sole topic of a documentary, «Le corps soumis» («the submissive body»), by Irène Omelianenko and François Teste, broadcast on France Culture before winning an award in 2007 at the New-York Festivals, an annual event promoting the best radio programmes worldwide.Mistress Cindy’s appearances in the media are not restricted to radio. She has been the subject of various TV features, and in 2010, for the twentieth anniversary of the Arte channel, she staged a performance with her robot «la Fesseuse» (“the Spanker”) at the Cent-quatre art centre in Paris, broadcast live on the channel in the Tracks program  #cantravel