THE ARGUMENT AGAINST THE BODY / 2011
ABOVE: The Argument Against the Body (2011) Photograph by Henrik Vestergaard
SUMMARY
“The Argument Against the Body is a meditation on the problem of being present in front of a live audience. Described as a ‘performed thought experiment’ this work was presented as a monologue that imagined an imaginary performance by an imaginary artist. The work attempted to satirize the clichéd image of the superhuman performance artist, driven by endurance to the extremes of physical and perceptual experience. In the piece was described a scenario of a performance artist who finds a way to separate mind from body, and is able communicate with audience members on an individual basis - present (yet invisible) only in the form of pure consciousness. My own real experiences of failure in earlier attempts to push my body and mind to its limits in prior works were cited in relation to this fictional construct. The work also explored disorientation and disembodiment through the fragmentation of voice, body, mind and audience. Deconstructing the traditional performance lecture format, the aim was to question the hierarchy of these elements and their interrelationship, whilst exploring the limits of the untrained body through a series of exhaustive physical routines.” [PROGRAM NOTE]
SCHEDULE
This is Not a Performance or a Lecture, Radar Symposium, Loughborough, UK: 18.6.2011 / The Dining Kitchen, Warehouse 9, Copenhagen, Denmark: 7.2.2011 / Tilt Festival, Kings Place, London, UK: 9.9.2010
DOCUMENTATION
Documentation of the Copenhagen version of this performance can be seen here, along with the Loughbough (UK) version here.
WRITING
An review onThis is Not a Performance or a Lecture event by writer Morgan Quaintance can be found here.
