| screaMachine
performance / installation proposal |
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| A
naked male performer drags a bible, attached by string
to his penis, across an image (multi-layered Photoshop
file) projected on the floor. His hands are behind
his back, holding a scroll of paper (his Irish birth
certificate). An operator works the computer feeding
the signal to the projector. The operator, using a
Wacom tablet set to Photoshop’s eraser tool,
tracks the bible’s path across the image; the
eraser tool erases the upper layer of the image, revealing
the layer below, giving the impression that the bible
is erasing the image as it moves across. The performer
continues to drag the bible in an inward spiral until
he reaches the center of the image and all of the
upper image (layer) has been removed. The performer
exits the projection area, dragging the bible with
him. |
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The
performer’s hands are behind his back holding
his birth certificate. |
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| A
video projector projects an image onto the gallery floor.
The performer drags the bible across the projected image.
A somber, church-like soundtrack gradually merges into
sounds of talking and laughter (voices of the artist & lover). |
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| The
performer walks backwards, dragging the
bible across the projected image. A bible
is on the ground, attached by a string to
the performer’s
penis (through a pierced hole in his foreskin).
As the real bible moves across the image, it
appears to erase the projected representation
of the open bible revealing the image on the
layer below. The bible is dragged along an
inward spiral path, slowly revealing the image
of the artist and his lover. After the upper
image is erased, the performer slowly exits
the area dragging the bible with him. |
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| This
piece is designed to be an installation that is inaugurated
by the performance. An overhead camera records the
performance; this footage is then looped and played
back through the projector continuously, thus forming
the fixed installation. The viewer is presented with
an image of the performance shot from above, giving
the impression that there is a (virtual) cut-out in
the floor and the performance is taking place on the
floor below. |
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| “Drag”
serves as a cathartic cleansing of the artist’s
spiritual and religious upbringing in Ireland. It
takes the sexually repressive doctrines that are central
to the self-identity of a ‘good Irish catholic’
and erases them, replacing them with an image of non-repressive
sexual ease. While liberating himself from his catholic
past, the artist makes sure he retains his Irish identity
by clutching his Irish birth certificate throughout
the process. While many would argue that religious
identity is synonymous with national identity in Ireland,
as exemplified by the sectarian violence in Northern
Ireland; the artist shows that a break from this past
is possible. |
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