La Ribot’s Laughing Hole

    

Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester on Thursday 12th March 2015

One of the most disturbing pieces of art I’ve ever seen.  For several hours, three flexible young women pull placards with darkly suggestive words from the floor and hold them aloft, their bodies contorted in various ways.  But here’s what you can’t see in the photos: they are laughing, and there’s a recorded soundtrack of laughter pulsing loudly through the space, sometimes with  an accompanying static-drone.

Sometimes the dancers came right up next to me, touching – in one case, with a placard that read “FEED ME” – and looked me straight in the eye, smiling and laughing.  I hadn’t a clue what to do, laugh along, sit there impassively, or look away; every option seemed wrong.

The dancers were remarkable not only for their strength and suppleness, but for the way they kept up the laughter and smiling in a remarkably convincing way.  I was there from 7pm until 10pm (it started at 4pm) and the three that I saw didn’t stop once.

I was particularly interested to see this piece, my first time seeing La Ribot’s work live.  Being a long durational live art event, with audience free to come and go as they please, I felt it might inform my own work.

 

Circumbendistuff

Link to website:

http://circumbendistuff.wix.com/show#!chris-beale/c19ma

Photos of my performance:

Statement:

We tend to think of art-making as a one way process, the creator-subject making the object; but artist and artwork are interdependent, locked in a reciprocal relationship.  Art changes me, it creates who I am, and gives back in equal proportion to what I put into it.  Live art performance is the arena where I experience this most vividly.

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When I work with a material, I have this urge to get right inside the material, to immerse myself in it.

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In Jewish legend, golems are volatile semi-human creatures made out of clay into which life has been injected by men with special powers.  As soon as I start to think about creating such a creature, I want to become one, too.

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“On the usual view, the work arises out of and by means of the activity of the artist.  But by what and whence is the artist what he is?  By the work… The artist is the origin of the work.  The work is the origin of the artist.  Neither is without the other.”

Martin Heidegger, The Origin of the Work of Art, 1950

 

 

Feeling shy, and being “seen”

Today I was talking about how I feel shy, in life generally, and the art world (intimidated about trying out performance stuff, in particular: feel silly, and concerned that people seeing me will think I’m ridiculous).

AND… at the same time, I have a deep desire to be “seen”.  I want to be noticed, acknowledged, remembered.  I like, sometimes, to be the centre of attention.

I was saying that I thought I was unusual in this, I felt very divided.

Hester Reeve said she thought this wasn’t unusual at all; she thought that we all have that need for privacy as well as acknowledgement.  She thought I just seem more aware of it somehow, more in touch with those strong feelings.

Performance art seems very fertile territory for exploring this dichotomy.

 

AS IT HAPPENS…. DAY FOUR

     

Day four of As It Happens… saw many more visitors, coming to the Sunday Soirée showcasing our week’s work.  I did four more performances, bringing the total to 28 performances over the four days.  Quite an achievement, I think, but when it was over I had quite a strong sense of anti-climax.  People went their separate ways.  It would have been nice to go for a drink together and unwind.

One thing I liked about the Soirée was there were children there, who saw my performance.  I could hear them laughing sometimes when I was inside the bag; they liked this wriggling, strange creature.  I feel pleased that my work was appreciated by people of all ages, but I’m particularly happy that children responded to it.

 

AS IT HAPPENS…. DAY TWO

       

Day two of our exhibition.  Yesterday I hadn’t dared try out the ‘living podium’; took the plunge today, letting out a rhythmic stream of words, an associative free flow of thought which unearthed a veritable pick’n’mix of memories.  The other best thing today was Fran suggesting that we collaborate on a drawing.  I’m beginning to relax, to enjoy the possibilities.

I remember a critic describing the Austrian artist Erwin Wurm’s work as like a collaboration between Hieronymous Bosch and Looney Tunes; I think my work has the same kind of quality.  Visitors today mentioned both nightmares and hilarity. 

 

AS IT HAPPENS…. DAY ONE

Day One of the As It Happens exhibition.  Live art performances by me for 10-15 minutes, every half hour without fail, and whether or not anyone is watching.

The zippy bag works well.  Offers sanctuary for me, to retreat into, and I don’t have to look at the faces of people watching.  Afterwards Yuen said, “It’s interesting how concealment can facilitate expression”.  Yes – it is interesting, and something I will continue to investigate.

It has been a nerve-wracking day.  Feels good to have done it, though.  A milestone.  First time I’ve ever done this kind of work, solo, in front of an audience.

It’s tiring doing the performances.  Intense concentration.  And there are these moments of collapse, when I’m stuck, overcome with fatigue, and/or losing focus.  Having an audience is harder in some ways, but also good because it helps me keep focused.