CRITICAL THEORY

Critical Theory: Study #1, digital photograph (2013)

WARREN TRUSS

Warren Truss, performance details (2010)

Warren Cremona, cremona diagram: graphite on paper

Performance at ESP Gallery, Marrickville, 1.00 pm - 5.30 pm 15/08/10.

BODILY MODIFICATION PROGRAM (BMP)

Bodily Modification Program (BMP), 2008. Installation of project artefacts, data and results for Sydney College of the Arts' Honours Graduation Exhibition 2010.

BODILY MODIFICATION PROGRAM (BMP) (2008)

Bodily Modification Program (BMP) documents a six-month experimental study (hereafter referred to as ‘the project’) of the role of body modification practices in performance art. It began with a statement of intent; “to assess the impact of bodily modification upon the performance artwork”. Rather than approaching this brief theoretically, the project was to be undertaken experimentally. It was determined that a series of modifications would be enacted upon the artist’s body (the Bodily Modification Program). Undertaken simultaneously, a series of performances would test the impact of the modifications (the Performance Program). The development of the Performance Program would operate independently of the Bodily Modification Program. To maintain objectivity and generate reproducible results, the performances were not to be conceived of with a conscious eye towards the modifications they were to test. Performances would be analysed reflectively to determine the impact of the concurrent body modifications upon their reading. These would be cross referenced against the results of ongoing physical condition testing, to determine whether the nature and degree of modification reflected the results of the post-performance analysis.

It is important to note that the project did not set out to study body modification inperformance art but rather body modification for performance art. This is, in effect, to apply a sporting model to performance practice. Just as the athlete trains for sporting competition, the project was to determine the viability of training for the performance artwork. In determining the type of body modification to undertake it therefore seemed natural to use physical fitness practices. Using sports science resources a training regime was designed. The regime, segmented into four-week blocks, was enacted as follows:

Test Battery 4: Body Shots, digital photographs

1) cardiovascular fitness

2) flexibility, cardiovascular fitness

3) strength and muscle mass, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness

4) body fat minimisation, strength and muscle mass, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness

5) tapering of training intensity

6) reversal of all training gains

(The two final blocks were designed to offer a comparison to the escalating intensity of the first four). The artist trained six days per week for between one and four hours.

Test Battery Four: Body Shot (anterior), 2008.

The project’s final analysis offered neutral results. Whilst physical condition testing demonstrated that the training regime had been effective and the artist’s body had been modified dramatically this was not reflected in the analysis of performances. Apart from minor instances in individual works, the modifications could not be seen to produce major impacts upon the conceptual composition of the performances undertaken. It was concluded that body modification in a training format was not a viable approach to performance practice. It appears that body modification is only of conceptual value to the artwork when incorporated directly as is the normative approach.

Physical Condition Testing Form from Test Battery 0 (control)

UNICYCLE PERFORMANCE

The piece involved me learning to ride a unicycle over a period of five working days adhering to a strict schedule allowing for a 15 minute morning and afternoon tea break and a 30 minute lunch break. I clocked in and out at 9 am and 5 pm and for each break. These times were recorded on a time sheet. At the end of each day I filled out a performance evaluation sheet where by my performance was assessed against ten “Key Performance Indicators”. The performance took place at Sydney College of the Arts. The documentation consists of forty hours (eight hours per day) of continuous video footage, physical remnants and photographs.
The piece grows conceptually from the inherent absurdity of the unicycle. As a vehicle it is useless, it constitutes only an entertainment value; a circus trick. Therefore the tortuous nature of the skill acquisition heightens the aforementioned absurdity. The imposition of the time structure of the working day begins to imply a meaninglessness to a life of full time work. The working day of the performance is tortuously repetitive. The sensory deprivation provoked extreme psychological responses such as hallucination. In the end I didn’t learn to ride the unicycle, the stress of the situation and the inability to concentrate prevented moving beyond a certain proficiency.