I needed to see some performance art this week. Last week saw me at two very different shows. On Thursday it was the Barbican Centre for Richard Maxwell's New York City Players and their new piece - The End of Reality. http://www.nycplayers.org/
It was interesting but not typical theatre or performance art. A group of actors moved their way through a series of scenes without looking like they were acting in some parts and very much like they were acting in others. It really did remind me of the States though in its tone and visuals. Sometimes when I walk out of a play or film where the actors speak North American English I get confused as people around me start to speak and my mind has to switch continents quickly. There is something much more disorientating about hearing your own language for 2 hours than hearing a film in French or German or Japanese for an hour and then having to return to the world outside.
Friday I was at the Chelsea Theatre http://www.chelseatheatre.org.uk/ for their series 'Sacred.' I was there to see a piece in progress by Ron Athey and Dominic Johnson. Dominic works with me at Queen Mary. He just finished his PhD and is a great teacher. He also performs although not usually in collaboration. Ron Athey is a performance artists who has been producing work for about 20 years. He is a very interesting person and although I am putting his website here, I don't recommend you go there unless you are ok with seeing a body in painful situations - he is an extreme body artist. http://www.ronathey.com/
I had heard from Dominic that Ron was coming to perform, and while the name was familiar and I had seen a few picture I did not know anything else about him. So I watched a DVD of Judas Cradle, which is a piece he did last year and then I read some articles and looked at the website. I met with Ron about 3 weeks ago and we talked for 2 1/2 hours about everything! It was great. I asked him all sorts of questions about faith and ritual and religion and massage therapy. He is an extremely open person with a complex background. He was raised in the Ecstatic Pentecostal movement in southern California. His family believed he should be a preacher so he was groomed to lead. From an early age he spoke in tongues and danced in the spirit. He lost his faith at 15. After years of coming to terms with what he believed he started using performance. While he has been performing for years he has always worked full time at a 'normal' job (journalism) and only produced performance when he had something to say.
So last Friday I saw the most recent piece 'Incorruptible Flesh (Inner Pig - Petrified Life).' Needless to say it was interesting. Not always easy to watch, but compared to some of his other performances which have involved a lot of blood, this was very tame. I found that there was Christian symbolism throughout and am looking forward to talking to Dominic about it next week. I wonder if other people see the links with ritual?
Tonight I went to a completely different type of piece. This one was part of Riverside Studios season called Feeast (Festival of Central and Eastern European Arts). http://www.riversidestudios.co.uk/cgi-bin/season.pl?f=Feeast%2006
The piece tonight was commissioned for the festival and was created by a Czech Artist. Here is what the website said:
A visual feast beneath the streets of Clerkenwell, this truly remarkable, dark
and cavernous space provides the setting for an extraordinary piece on human isolation.
As we carry our own energetic fields or auras, a kinetic merry-go-round gravitates
around our body, made up of the particles of our experiences, emotions and memories. Though we try to retain our identities through this protective layer, it fights to free
itself and cross into the unknown.
Magic, trickery and thrills are guaranteed as Czech’s renowned installation artist,
Petr Nikl, is let loose in the abattoir to the music of The Balanescu Quartet. In a
disused abattoir, four physical performers inhabit Peter Nikl’s astonishing, working mechanical installations to take us on a journey through air, water and sound.
Especially commissioned for Feeast 06, Soul-étude unites a remarkable team of international artists including the celebrated visual artist Petr Nikl and Feeast
Director Diana Cezar. They are joined by a company of physical performers and the internationally acclaimed Balanescu Quartet."
I really enjoyed it as it was playful, though provoking and meditative. The live music was wonderful and the site was intriguing. It was also absolutely pouring down with rain tonight which added to the atmosphere of trying to find an old building in dark London at night.
So there are my three most recent excursions. I think I might go to see a play called On Religion next week...although I will also be going skating outdoors (if it doesn't rain!).
