Performance for Friction International performance art festival, Uppsala Art Museum, Uppsala, 2012

Curator: SU-EN

please click on images to enlarge

photo credit: Elkin

Materials: costume, broken mirror, stone bird statuette, marbles, metal rings, scissors, chair, space

Performance duration: 15 min

Supported by Nordic Culture Point and Bergen City Council

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The performance took place in the room of the study collection of paintings within the museum.

When the audience entered the room, I was lying across a chair in the middle of the space, my leg slightly shivering from time to time, due to the uncomfortable position. The feet of my stockings were filled with marbles, and I was wearing one glove with a broken mirror attached to the palm of my hand.

After about 5 min the leg started twitching slightly more violently, before my hand pulled my head out of the costume by the hair, and I stood up. In my mouth I had a little stone bird statuette with two birds, and a large marble. I walked around the space in a square, stamping my feet, marbles rattling.

I took off a gold chain necklace from around my neck, and started swirling it in the air, while moving along the audience, showing them one by one the broken mirror in my hand.

I dropped the bird stone statuette on the floor so it broke. I got on to the carpet, in a  frog like posture, balancing until tipping over onto my head. I repeated across the carpet, until I reached a little egg cup on the floor, where I dropped the large marble still left in my mouth.

I retreated into my costume and started cutting it open lengthwise with scissors, starting between my legs.

When I had reached and cut the neckline, I started jumping wildly up and down, arms and legs moving in and out, marbles flying everywhere, along with gold rings that had been hidden inside the costume. I then hurriedly grabbed my own hair and pulled out of the room.