The cello has long been associated with eroticism:
Charlotte Moorman performing Jim McWilliams’s Ice Music for Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1976.
Man Ray’s Le Violon d'Ingres, 1924.
Histoire de l’œil takes this idea to the extreme through the use of non-standard techniques, where performers employ methods reminiscent of BDSM practices. Almost choreographic in nature, the piece unfolds as a marcia, with deliberate, processional movements that transform the act of playing into an exploration of tension, restraint, and release.