Why did you decide to become a performance artist? Was there an event or exhibition that particularly inspired you?
I had a history of dance and drama rather than fine arts. I joined a contemporary dance degree in 2002 and didn’t get on with it, so joined an Interdiciplinary Performance Art degree. The degree was theatre based and we mostly made immersive installations. I liked the work of Punchdrunk and Shunt at the time. On graduating I moved to Bristol and discovered the Arnolfini, where I saw Paul Hurley’s Becoming Snail. Paul spent two hours on his hands in knees in a muddy greenhouse full of snails, licking his way around the glass. Paul was a hot skinhead in a jockstrap, with a rucksack full of piss on his back… it would be wrong to say I didn’t find the performance as deeply erotic as I did fascinating and beautiful.
My own solo practice developed through conversations with Paul about his work and through exploring the history of live work by others. I found a whole new way of working through live art. My solo work was mostly made in response to a lack of money: it doesn’t cost anything to meet with someone One-to-One and talk/kiss/dance. It was cheaper, easier and more visceral than the audience/performer disconnection of theatre.
Who/what are your influences? Are there any past performers/musicians/playwrights/ novelists that have influenced your performances? Are there social or political issues affecting your work? How do personal interests affect the performance?
I’m a fan of the frisson of liveness that exists between artist and audience but am mostly inspired by fine artists. I particularly love the work of Olafur Eliasson, James Turrell and Roman Signer – In many of their works these artists play with light, kin-aesthetics and the way we interact with atmospheres to make audiences aware of the way in which we interact with art. They use their work to heighten atmospheres or draw attention to experiences in the natural world. Eliasson does this by recreating storms, the sun, mists, light conditions… all things that make environments atmospheric. Turrell directs the viewer’s attention by framing light and weather conditions in a way that makes it the focus of the experience. Signer is more concerned with the interactions of day to day objects, ie placing an electric fan opposite another, the effect of one spinning the blades of another. I am interested in relationships between people and objects, people and environments and people and people… and that is why most of my work has been One-to-One up until now.
As for performance artists I could name the usual suspects, Marina Abramovic, Joseph Beuys, Vito Acconci, Chris Burden. I have a respect for Franko B and his bedfellows, Ron Athey, Stellarc, Orlan etc. Of the current practicing artists Kira O’Reilly, Hancock and Kelly and Paul Hurley are very special. I recently caught the work of Carter and Zierle who completely mesmerised me.
I wouldn’t like to say what my work was about, or whether it is particularly political. I am more interested in beautiful than political at the moment but some of the work I have made such as Untitled Performance With Sugar was intended to interrogate the brutality of some cosmetic surgery I had on my chest in 2007. I would like to think people can find politics in my work but I don’t have an overt political agenda in that way that perhaps a company like La Pocha Nostra do.
Personal issues are a driving force behind my work, but my work has to be more than just a whinge about stuff in my life for it to mean anything to anyone else.
The most difficult part I have found about the process so far is coming up with an original concept. As performance art is becoming more prolific, it seems there is less that an artist can do to captivate an audience that hasn’t been done before. How do you go about developing an initial idea into a piece of art? What are the processes that you go through?
I’m not sure that performance art is becoming more prolific although perhaps audiences are becoming more open to it having been given contexts for experiencing it such as within the immersive Punchdrunk performances or through cabaret evenings. I don’t believe you should worry about captivating audiences. I think you need to be true to yourself and make the work that you care about. If I can see that someone cares about what they are doing I can appreciate it much more than someone who is making work with no real passion for what they are doing.
Originality shouldn’t be a problem as long as you know your history and how your work links to similar work. There can be as much mileage in recreating other artists old work as making your own, as the work is recontextualised. The performance re-enactment society do this well. In my experience people don’t get bored of seeing bodies do amazing/weird things. People are interested in bodies and bodily functions and sex because we all have them/it and that is likely not going to change. Seeing someone bleed is always a new experience, regardless of seeing someone bleed before, because of the unpredictability of it.
The way I make work is organic and weird. I usually have an idea as stupid as “I want to cover myself in treacle because I think it would look beautiful shining in the light” or “I want to kiss complete strangers” and then I think about them, talk about them, see other peoples work… stuff just develops through conversations. I am inspired and affected by what other people do and to a point I sort of borrow from others where appropriate.
Its really just constant thinking. At one point in the making of the treacle piece, the treacle was going to be motor oil, which I am now using in another performance. To me, the breaking of pearl necklaces became a bit of a metaphor for spunk and the treacle became the seductive, shining surface of sex that is actually quite dirty and sticky. There might be thoughts about vanity, body image… who knows what people think when they see my covering myself in treacle… all interpretations are fine by me.
I gave the piece the title “La Petite Mort” which means “The little death” which is a
well known metaphor for the female orgasm. The opera track I used “Mild und Leise Wie Er Lächelt” is literally a “Love-Death”: A woman dying of hysteric ecstasy… she is grief stricken that her partner has died, completely hysterical but also experiencing a sort of orgasm. It seems to fit.
I think this probably explains how I make work. I don’t come up with a ‘concept’ like “I want to make a work about ________”: The concept forms alongside the performance in a more dualistic fashion.
Is there an element of costume or character to your performances – or is it simply you? What is the reasoning behind your performance in the nude? What is your perception of your body?
As mentioned previously, in new work I am exploring body image and surgery. I don’t feel there is a character in what I do, it is me (but one of many versions of me…..)
I performed naked because i didn’t want to disrupt the flow of the treacle, but also because i have a fat womanly arse and hips and the performance is sort of about female orgasm to me. I don’t hate my body, but it isn’t great. For the sake of making art I believe in I don’t care that other people see it.
Myself and two other friends saw your performance of ‘La Petite Mort’ at Eat Your Heart Out. Each of us though the performance was beautiful and striking, but we each had our own opinions on the piece. To you, what does it symbolise?
I think I answered this above. Being Male, Being Female, Orgasm, Intimacy, Seductive/Sensual Sex, Reflection, Female Orgasm.
Clearly, art is very subjective and can be interpreted in many different ways. Are you open to interpretation, or is there a definite message behind the work? How do the audience tend to respond?
I also mentioned this. I have made some pretty shit work that has got bad response, but people seem to like the pearl thing. I want my work to be open to interpretation and therefore i hope more meaningful to those who watch.
Reading your blog, a number of your performances have been more intimate. Which was your favourite to perform? Also, these more intimate performances all have quite sexual connotations; they are slightly more risqué and more of a private affair. How do you think this compares to a performance with an audience in front of you, on a stage?
I made intimate and slightly sexual work because I am an intimate and slightly sexual person. I made those works to explore what it meant to be “me” in performance and not a character. Performing one on one is the subject of my masters dissertation (which is nearly finished) and requires more trust both on behalf of audience and performer. Its very different to putting your fat arse on a stage to be judged….
I’ve recently been looking at the works of Wedekind and Franko B. Each artist produced work for different purposes, whether it be a reaction against society at the time or a personal turmoil. Is there a purpose to your work? Is there an element of ‘shock value’?
I don’t think my work is shocking, but it might be inexplicable or weird. I want people to think that treacle on skin is beautiful… because i think it is. Its a thick, sticky, slow moving seductive liquid.
Are there limitations to what you can do with your work? How would you develop your work further providing that these constraints could be solved; is there anything you want to do but can’t? Where do you see your work going in the future?
I would like my arse to be less fat… I would like to make simpler work that is as crystalline and perfect as that of Eliasson, Turrell or Signer. The only ever performance I saw live that was completely perfect was 47 bones by Dani D’Emilia. There are no pictures and as she is a very young contemporary artist there is little about her online. She made a ladder out of bones and at the bottom lay a slightly plump naked girl, covered in what looked like vaseline. It was lit from above with soft spotlighting in a dark auditorium and it was an amazing, beautiful, peaceful work. The Abramovic work Peggy Phelan describes in Tate Live book sounds amazing too.
I am working towards being more of a visual performer. I liked the One-to-One performances but I got to a certain point in making them where I was just recycling ideas. I am now quite interested in the idea of creating spectacles, but perhaps I will return to the one-to-one at a later date.
What advice can you give me, as a complete novice? Are there any books or artists that you could recommend?
I think I have mentioned loads, but I don’t know what you are into. Scottee is at the top of his game right now and is very lovely and worth chatting too. I loved the performance where he vomits red wine to an electro soundtrack although it is very clubby/showy.
I recommend you think night and day about something you care about… and follow any impulses you have with all your heart!
I hope this helps,
Mike
