Musical Projects (2007–2022) – Writing, Performance and Sonic Identity

Beatriz Millar developed three musical projects between 2007 and 2022, each situated within a specific moment of her artistic trajectory and closely linked to writing and performance.

Clown Clone and the Piano Tattoo (2007)

The first project originated during the artist’s late adolescence. While still in school, she composed short lyrical texts during classes, including A Boy Doesn’t Cry, Swim Swan, and I Have a Mirror in My Hand.

Swiss musician Helena Stocker transformed these texts into songs, composing them in piano practice cabins during school breaks. The result was the CD Clown Clone and the Piano Tattoo, characterized by a distinct graphic identity that preserves the immediacy and experimental tone of its early phase.

The album was conceived in dialogue with the sculpture Clown Clone, depicting a pianist at a white grand piano decorated with black and red tattoo motifs. The sculpture incorporates a subtle blinking mechanism, introducing a minimal performative dimension.

Plastic Dorianne in Love (2015)

The second CD was produced in connection with a performance in Palm Beach. Beatriz Millar appeared alongside the alter ego Plastic Dorianne, engaging with a repertoire associated with Marlene Dietrich within a cabaret setting. The staging incorporated black drapery, candlelight, and theatrical atmosphere.

The album includes songs such as Lili Marlene, Let’s Call It A Day, Look Me Up Closely, and Illusion. The project operates as reinterpretation rather than homage, reframing the repertoire through performative embodiment.

Black Smoking and Black Papillon (Vinyl, 2022)

The third project, released on vinyl in 2022, was written and composed in collaboration with Rudy Valentino and the Baleras, with the participation of Daniella K. Placci of the trio Blue Dolls.

The ensemble consists of fifteen musicians performing in a big band configuration. The artist authored ten original compositions, including Jaggy the Curly Jaguar, Chocolat Choco-cha-cha-cha, Venus in Aries, and Birillinà.

The lyrics of Birillinà were selected by a jury chaired by Mogol at the CET – Centro Europeo di Toscolano (Lazio) and included in the center’s official archive of texts.

Black Smoking and Black Papillon engages with twentieth-century musical forms, traversing tango, waltz, orchestral jazz, and cabaret-inflected atmospheres.