Body Slam

Introduction

There is nothing more conventional in an art gallery than the arrangement of paintings on the walls. They exist as precious, untouchable objects meant for our passive, admiring gaze only. I propose to work within this familiar context to challenge notions of entertainment, which has become even more complicated in our increasingly virtual world. Our entertainment can quickly turn into complacency. I will create a performance and installation that challenges this complacency and questions the ethics of entertainment on an utterly physical level.

Performance and Installation

The performance will result in the creation of approximately 12 individual wall pieces. For each piece, liberal amounts of house paint and acrylic color will be pressed against the wall with a glass sheet. Suited in protective gear, I will build up sprinting speed and hurl myself against the glass and pressed paint, cracking the glass and splattering the paint. Some of the broken glass will fall, but most of it will stick to the wall, held in place by acrylic gel-thickened paint. This process will be repeated as quickly as possible until all the wall pieces are complete.

The performance and its resulting wall pieces are the central focus of this project and will occupy roughly half the wall space in the gallery. The inclusion of concept sketches, studies, related art objects, and visual documentation of previous performances will fill the remainder, providing greater insight into my process.

Purpose and Impact

This performance problematizes the passive act of looking, dissolving the comfortable remove between art and audience. The longer the audience watches my repeated thrashings, the longer they remain complicit in my potential self-injury. Through the thick smell of paint, the violent splattering of color, and the sounds of my crashing body breaking glass, I will create a palpable tension between the audience’s desire for spectacle and their fears for my well-being. In this way, I intend to create a work, both in the performance and resulting installation, that connects with the audience on a gut level.