Power of the mind

Temptation, human nature, physical stress on the body

While the comedy route felt comfortable, the idea of using the body to express a meaningful message still lingers in the back of my mind. I wish to create a more MEANINGFUL performance, something that makes the audience think and is not a direct message. A message that could be interpreted in different ways.

By focusing on Maria Abramovic, I will hopefully create a meaningful performance with an interesting message.

 

Sample:

A 10 minute intense work out, causing physical stress and pain on the body. In this state I will be completely focused.  The audience will be given a strong BB gun with a note on each one stating ‘Shoot at me’. The guns will be strong enough to possibly draw blood or show bruises.  The performance will test the natural human trait of temptation and research the violent nature of man.  I will write down the time of each shot, how many of the guns went off and where they hit me.  Each time I get shot I will put the house lights on and walk over to a piece of projection paper and write everything clearly down. At the end the paper will be projected onto the wall along with a close up projection of my wounds (if any).

The wounds would look simular to this:

Notes:

I would write up a description of how powerful the BB guns are making it clear how painful they will be so it’s obvious to each audience member what they’re in control of.

I will have giant posters around the studio telling the audience to fire at will.

 

Risks:

There are many risks included. Getting shot in the face (mouth and eyes) is obviously dangerous. However, I am happy to let this be a factor. Where the shots hit my body will help determine the thought process behind each one and how violent the audience member wishes to be.

The physical stress I am personally putting on the body through the intense workout needs to be body weight only. Any external heavy weights above my head could drop if i’m shot at and possibly kill me.

 

Conclusion:

Whether there are no shots or all guns are shot. I will have an interesting result to back up my intentions behind this piece. Hopefully watching me workout for 10 minutes will prompt at least a few painful gun shots towards me.  The public want to see something interesting.  Each member of the public has the power in their hands to alter my performance and gain a reaction from me. How can they pass that up?

 

Inspiration:

Marina Abramovic does something similar to this in 1974.  In a solo performance called “Rhythm 0”, “Marina Abramovic invited her audience to use and abuse her with 72 objects she laid out on a table.  Some objects could give pleasure, some inflict pain, the weapons included a gun and a single bullet”.  The audience members had a mixed reaction to this, some caused pain, some stopped others causing pain.  Ultimately, Abramovic described the experience as being ‘violated’.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited:

Halberstam, J., The Artist Is Object – Marina Abramovic at MOMA, Available at: http://bullybloggers.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/the-artist-is-object-%E2%80%93-marina-abramovic-at-moma/

North News & Pictures Ltd, [online], Available at: http://www.whatsonningbo.com/news_images/a3812b5006e66652_pellets2.jpg

At this stage of Solo Performance, I feel like I lack motivation behind each idea and am still trying to grasp the concept.  By describing my biggest source of motivation, hopefully it will prompt an idea or a performance that has more meaning behind it.

 

My Mother

I have always had so much in common with my mum.  She’s the most inspirational most motivational person in my life.  Born as Heather Dawn Jackson, into a poor family in Amptill, she was instantly set to face hundreds of hard times in her life. At a young age she was told she was going on holiday, she was actually taken to a care home for children.  While both her parents loved her very much, they simply couldn’t look after her and couldn’t face telling her in person.  One day she was brought back home.  Her sister was born blind therefore needing a carer, her mother suffered from depression at times and the father was always working so Dawn had to look after her sister.  Her father soon died of lung Cancer due to his smoking addiction.  With no money, no promise of future happiness, no hope, she somehow managed to find some.  She longed for the limelight, the wealth.  She decided to become an actress.  She changed her name to Kelly Dawn Summers and forced her way up the business by starting off as a stunt woman.  She then appeared in several films, one being Robin Hood.  She soon went into Radio as a personality called ‘Afeelya Body’.  Now you can start to see where my personality stems from.  After finding success on her own radio show, she then decided at a later age, to go to university.  She got a degree in nutition and physcotherapy.  She became a personal trainer, creating her own videos and ended up giving motivational speeches at my school.  Ultimately she became a successful psychotherapist helping hundreds of people overcome their trubbled past and begin a new, more eventful happy life.  Several years ago, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer, due to her attitude, nutrition and fitness level she managed to overcome this, until it came back in the lung.  It was a harsh type of lung cancer, however she managed to live a lot longer than expected due to her mental fortitude.  My mum was always there for me to talk to, I could tell her anything due to her care free attitude.  My mum was the soul and the life of the party, everyone loved her.  She insisted on being the centre of attention and always looked on the bright side of life.  Luckily this has passed on to me.  I cherish this with all my heart.  Yeah I have moments where I’m down, but I bounce back quick, why wait?  Give me one good reason why you should spend a second longer feeling down when you could spend it being happy?  Yes it’s easier said that done, trust me, I know.  But once someone realises this way of living, I genuinely consider it to be invaluable.

 

Possible Idea – Motivation

The past is a huge part of ones character.  However it doesn’t embody a person.  Someone’s past can prompt a certain way of thinking and an outlook on life.  Changing or enhancing that outlook isn’t always a simple task.

Stand up comedy? (potential practitioner Whoopi Goldburg – creates humour based on her appearance and skin colour etc)

Topics to discuss:

• Physique (then and now) – Could be humorous to begin with, then include a more serious undertone?
• Mindset – initially care free (addicted to masturbation during class) and now more focused?