The Realities

FABLE

Once upon a time there was a reality
With her own flock of sheep in real wool
And as the king's son came passing by
The sheep bleated Baaah! how pretty she is
The re the re the reality

Once upon a time there was a reality
Who never could get to sleep at night
And so her fairy godmother
Really took her by the hand
The re the re the reality

Once upon a time there was an old king
Who got very bored as he sat on his throne
His cloak slipped off into the evening
So then they gave him for a queen
The re the re the reality

CODA: Ity ity the rea
Ity ity the reality
The rea the rea
Ty ty The rea
Li
Ty The reality
Once upon a time there was THE REALITY

~ Louis Aragon 'Paris Peasant" 1926

The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow

Just got back from this symposium performance series in Plymouth, headed my Marina Abramović, who unfortunately didn't show up but was there via a Skype video chat feed. Though the event was fairly disorganised and revealed how insular the world of Live Art can be there were still some great highlights, including of course meeting interesting people.

The Royal William Yard was a stunning venue, housing most of the events and performances. There were six artist performing at the Slaugherhouse

Davide Balliano: sharpening a knife slowly and repeatedly while facing a corner where two large mirrors created a grouping of 4 identicals. A single lightbuld illuminated the space adn the sound was quite evocative. The piece was a bit cliche, in that its use of a man in black in a black cap in a dark corner became a certain character type that would immediately be evocative.

Snezana Golubović: who stood on a stage stepping into a series of shoes...

Eva and Franco Mattes: who recreated performances in Second Life. This was mostly interesting because I had never seen Second Life in action before.

Francesca Steele: created one of the more engaging and evocative works, a one to one piece where you stood on a stage with her while she took the gestures of professional body building next to you. As a body builder herself she has transformed her body and the work made me think of gaze, obsession and body image as well as nearness and personal space.

Bill Wroath: who was slated to perform at the Market in the centre of Plymouth was moved here due to an issue with the council and his work. He sewed a full pig corpse back together dressed as a butcher/medic while behind hime the numbers of pigs slaughtered in each country per year was projected across the wall. I enjoyed this work as I've been feeling that the ecological situation on this planet has been turning my vegetarianism into something more political which it never has been. Unfortunately most people absorbed the information and the proceeded to think it was funny to order pork at the pub, I suppose this is why the world isn't going to change any time soon....

The Market in Plymouth is an incredible space, looks like you are inside a giant pool. There is a unique culture there as well between the traders and buyers and I definitely sensed that the performances were generally an intrusion. One person working the event told me the last day "They hate us by now and can't wait for us to leave". This lack of integration with the general public was something that was a bit disappointing about the event in general but then again I suppose performance art may be one of the less accessible works as it is.

One exception was Ania Bas who performed as a working vendor, selling a variety of media information and possible instructions taped up and down her jacket. The last day I chose 'Chewing gum and people watching". She took me to her favourite spot and we talked about the market and the event, we easily picked out the skinny jean black clad art goers and the overweight, pasty shoppers. She told me about the shopkeepers and how engaging them brought varied responses. Though some were not interested, some where. I felt very happy that at least someone was bringing the work towards dialogue and integrating the actual existing culture of the site. One vendor bought one of her instructions for another, while a third was going to serve as witness...

For a full list of performers click here: Pigs

Seeing Marina on Skype in bed, blowing her nose and coughing was rather humanising. She said two interesting things, she explained the title. Performance artists are the pigs of today and their work in many ways needs to die in order to be consumed as ham. This gave the entire symposium a lens towards archiving and the issues surrounding performance documentation... She also said students always ask her about entering the art market and how to succeed, she explained that she spent 30 of her 40 years making performances unpaid. Though she recognised this wasn't fair she recommended to young artists to stay true to their work and to stay true to the context...

But by far the highlight of the weekend was Tehching Hsieh... That gets a post of its own...

Conversations with Tehching Hsieh

Chatting with Tehching was the highlight of the Symposium (see prior post). During his chat chaired by Adrian Heathfield, he talked about leaving Taiwan on a freight ship to Iran picking up oil en route to Philadelphia where he jumped ship. He spoke about how he had heard tow words in Taiwan 'conceptual happenings'. He had no idea what they meant or how they would be so seminal in his work. In the US as an illegal immigrant he spent 4 years in his studio doing no work. His studio was empty and he just sat their thinking. Then he had this idea, if I've been doing this 4 years why not one more? This was the first one year performance 1978-1979. He then completed 4 more and finished with a final 13 year piece where he would complete work but not present it publicly and basically disappeared. He emerged in 2000 and released a DVD of his work.
He was incredibly humble and genuine. I spoke to him after the event on the freezing cold pier in Plymouth. Tehching apologised for his English skills and said 'I am not as educated as everyone here'. I responded that he was genuine and that this was what people responded to, for he really received a loud applause. It was a welcome relief from an overly cerebral event!

I asked him if he ever had the impetus to make work... he responded 'whats impetus?'... i said need, want... he restated what he said earlier, that he already had his great ideas, that he had no more. and even if he did more it would become formulaic. He added that he also already stated as an art piece that he would not create any more work. And if he reneged on this then all his work would be a lie.

I love this man....

He also still lives in Bed-Stuy (Bedford-Stuyvesant) area of Brooklyn. Recently the grocer in his building was pistol-whipped and robbed. But he said he's been there for the last 12 years and he's never moving again...

Speaking with him reminded me of why I am an artist why I am drawn to what I do. There was such a strong spiritual sense in his work, my friend Debbie compared it to a form of Zen meditation. This is what makes great work, perhaps avoiding a paralyses by analyses and tapping into a deep well of energy that can exist in performance as in life...