WTNSTNF

Concept

Where there’s no sense there’s no feeling

‘Do we act recklessly without considering the thought of harm? The idea of ‘No sense’ premises that we do not think about what it is we are doing. Whereas ‘No Feeling’ implies we don’t even notice when we get hurt. An often used criticism that plays on intelligence and sense. The criticism itself indirectly suggests that those who are stupid are less likely to feel pain. This leads us to question the role of pain within performance and whether it’s main purpose is to shock? This could be challenged by the work of both VestAndPage and Rocio Boliver.

Within VestAndPage’s performances there is a lot of focus on partnership and finding not only themselves but each other. Verena and Andrea use their bodies to make gestures that we the audience can relate to due to our empathetic nature. With this in mind, a lot of their performances permit them to push their bodies limits physically, which they believe allows them to fall into an almost transitory state removing them from the ordinary realm of being.

However, I feel it is important to realise the aspects of love within their work, which is what Rocio Boliver’s performances utilises. Boliver uses her body in a similar way in an attempt to physically stimulate and test herself. Her interests into human behaviour resonate with my own, progressing into the ways in which we can disrupt ideological reality through the expression of performance, further provoking the audience to realise the hidden. She appropriates the need to ‘be cared or cured for by a male’ (Boliver, 2014) , with the cause of pain developing into the loss of consciousness. With regards to this Boliver is able to analyse through performance language Independently. Subsequently permitting the audience to experience her own psychological pain.

Within the gallery space at KARST I plan to place the artists fairly centred, this will enable the audience to move around the space whilst being able to spectate all of the artists performances at once; highlighted in the darkened room by only spotlights. By simultaneously performing this will allow the audience to compare and contrast the way that the artists use pain within their performances as a tool to explore fragility and emotion. I will be documenting the audience through photography to see how they relate to the durational performances, and whether or not they are drawn empathetically to Boliver in an attempt to cure her.’ (Williams,2014)

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Williams, J. (2014). Concept. [Blog] wtnstnf. Available at: http://wtnstnf.wordpress.com/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2014].