Curtain up:
A middle aged man, dressed as a clown walks upside down across the
ceiling of the stage, pours himself a drink (that immediately falls
to the floor) and introduces a heterotopic gaggle of characters
including:
A short yet muscular woman breaks cinder blocks on her stomach; an
Ethiopian born contortionist juggles seven balls upon a giant drum in
a hip-hop rhythm; bodies stacked three high form a huge, human tower
and a man dressed as a boy scout is shot from a huge silver cannon in
a classic routine here entirely re-staged as an explicit lampoon of
US foreign policy worthy of Dario Fo.
Trebor asked for models of collective and collaborative practice: I
propose spending two phenomenal hours at Times Square watching the
Australian-based group Circus Oz. I did that last night and was
struck by the fact that some of the most interesting forms of
creative cooperation are fundamental to practices outside the
visual/media "arts." I was also reminded during the performance,
(reflexivity never rests it seems), of Herbert Marcuse's musings
about the bodies of circus and vaudeville entertainers:
"When the body has completely become an object, a beautiful thing, it
can foreshadow a new happiness. In suffering the most extreme
reification man triumphs over (Affirmative Character of Culture,
p.116)
Well Herb, there was suffering aplenty last night along with a
visceral danger that was present in almost every moment of every act.
Variegated bodies spun, tumbled, scaled up twenty-foot steel poles
upside down and got blasted through the air over the heads of a
terrified audience. Talk about biopower! Yet this is also where the
collaborative element became most visible as members of the circus
moved about on stage like clockwork; positioning themselves'
precisely, watching each other's backs, alert to avert harm to any
segment of the collective. Meanwhile, instances highlighting
individual talent were continuously articulated and interpolated by
the entire group body. And each member of the ensemble revealed, in
addition to one outstanding talent, multiple skills, both physical as
well as musical: in this way the small group could appear intimate at
times or as a multitude.
Finally, the clown, who also plays trumpet and tuba by the way,
returns. He thanks the audience by first gesturing to those of us way
up high in the bleachers (bertolt would love that) and last to those
nearby in the pricey orchestra circle. Then the clown gives a serious
soliloquy about the importance of cultural diversity and respect for
human rights.
Dear Trebor and FreeCooperation folks: I ask you to consider the
heterodoxical potential of BIOclown power raised to 10th degree!Curtain down.
--
gregory g. sholette
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Batza Family Chair in Art and Art History
Colgate University, Spring 2004
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280 Riverside Drive, #3E
New York City, NY 10025
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<gshol-*at*artic.edu>;
http://www.artic.edu/~gshole/