'Hardwired' Public Screening and 'Bad Money' Continues...

 As expected, my presentation of 'Hardwired' at DJCAD last Wednesday (26th) went splendidly well. Working with only a couple of sketchy notes, I managed to speak for 45 minutes around the 20-minute screening, thanks to a very engaged and talkative audience. As my first ever solo presentation/exhibition, I found it a very rewarding and exciting experience, and hope to do more of the same soon. 

Here is the full presentation, plus Q & A:

The layout of the event was exactly as I had first imagined it back in the Springtime - incorporating the sculptural Medusa work, printed flyers, and me presenting in character as Em in a snake print dress, which reflects the serpentine aspect of Medusa's myth. The feedback and discussion points surrounding the characters inspired me to push on with the nascent 'punk opera' concept ('Bad Money'), and a few days later I had a good demo song 'Madame Melodie Melody' recorded, from which grew a big musical production number and some semi-improvised narrative working around the slim storyline to date:

"I am the one, I am the law and the word. I am the beginning and the end. I take what I want and I get what I need At a profitable, comfortable dividend... You got a problem with that? You better go speak to the Lord, honey. He's the only one who's gonna save your godamn sorry ass now... 'Cos I am only a dame (But what a helluva dame) And while this world's my oyster, I will eat pearls and I'll poop caviar... We were put on this earth to do the best we can, and London town's my cloister And if you want a share, then you better beware 'Cos I'm (she's) a mean mutilator like Robespierre You said it boy, I'm the fellah's biggest fan I'm (she's) gonna get you any way I (she) can... So don't mess around with the Big Bad Melodie Ma'am... That's what I am."

Spot the Harry S Truman reference above...

This clip, filmed in part of the family house, involves me portraying 4 characters, stretching the concept of multiplicity of persona, and may be the most ambitious indoor musical video work to date, as a result. Synchronicity, a recurring theme within much of my creative work going back three decades now, resurfaces when reflecting upon the retro aspect of the Madame's interior decor and style (antique, Royalist, jazz) versus the younger, brasher youthful protagonists (contemporary, poor, punk). The flip.comes when we discover that Melodie is a furious atheist, as a result of Jen's blabbing about her devotion to prayer to resolve their economic situation. Intentional deadpan comedy now also infuses the work, as a means of propping up the stock/cliché character types (musical theatre, after all, isn't renowned for its depth of characterization), and one of the redeeming qualities of original punk was its cheeky and subversive sense of humour and occasional lapses into the elder generation's sphere of music hall and other popular forms (e.g. the piano singalong interlude in the Cockney Rejects' single 'The Greatest Cockney Rip-Off'). The movie musical has therefore some features in common with the porn film: neither can possess narratives or characters that are too deep or layered, due to the need to pack in sufficient 'crowd pleasing' scenes - both genres, too, tend to assume some level of 'audience participation' to be considered truly engaging. 

The whole artifice itself is attractive to me, in terms of my growing methodology with increased exposure - even celebration - of the limitations inherent in making works like this alone with no assistance. I would be interested in presenting some of the musical material live one day, perhaps as part of a multi-media exhibition of the punk cycle. Might the 'book' of such an opera be traditional, or radically rethought - whether in a Brechtian mode or some other alternative or subversive means? The libretti displayed as works in themselves which stand alongside, rather than being subservient to, the musical aspects?

Rather than constructing an entire genuine musical film out of these interludes, this body of material is now being dubbed 'Fragments from a Punk Opera', with fragmentation itself a recurring theme and methodology in my recent work (cf. 'Fragments of Amazonia' (2018), 'Fragments, Intermediaries', my MFAAH final exhibition in 2021, and as a subtext in the 2022 film 'Hardwired') wherein what is included is as relevant as the idea of what is not, or what is shown versus what is not shown. Which sections, stories, characters, from the over-arching narrative are deserving of having a song and dance made about them, and which ones not? Furthermore, the concept of connectedness itself can become the responsibility of the viewer, the audience, if the 'book' - i.e., the over-arching storyline, is left deliberately ambiguous, or even non-existent, providing only the libretti of each individual song. The old punk methodology of DIY - from printing and distribution (photocopied cut 'n pasted fanzines) to the music itself ('learn 3 chords, form your own band') - can therefore be applied not only to me as creator, actor, composer, musician, but to the audience who are invited to create their own beginning, middle and end from the selection of musical and other materials on offer. A 'random access' musical. Who are the villains and who the heroes? Why? True anarchy - make up the story that you want to see, not the one that is fed to you... (perhaps for this concept to fully work, some more ambiguity of character and motivation may need to be applied. But, as it stands - are Steff and Jen truly blameless? Is Melodie really irredeemable, if she regularly decapitates other gangsters, and furthermore, respects the Queen? Who's to say that Mr. Hookz won't let Steff & Jen 'off the hook' out of personal sympathy?) Furthermore, are there any links to my previous works - such as the similarity between the Melodie persona, and my work of a year ago, 'A/Object' and 'Untitled Sculptural Objects'?

There is potential for the humour to get blacker, and the art to become more artistic, in reference to one of my favourite films of all time: Peter Greenaway's 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover', which also deals with themes of crime, betrayal, and revenge, concepts which have already begun to swirl around some of the newly developed lyrical ideas.  

Thoughts and References on Three Recent Works

Note: Having resisted (upon supervisor request) the usual impulse to write at length about recent artworks created for this project, what follows is simply a personal aide-memoire to where my thinking was at the time of making, should any future need arise to explain them.

Lateralus

The specific spelling and purpose of this piece is best described in the words of others: the alternative metal band Tool and the song and album of that name, described in detail here, from which a few relevant quotes may suffice:

"The album title is something of a dual reference, nodding to both the thigh muscle vastus lateralis and the concept of "lateral thinking..." [...]

"[Lateralis] itself is actually a muscle, and although the title does have something to do with the muscle, it's more about lateral thinking and how the only way to really evolve as an artist — or as a human, I think — is to start trying to think outside of the lines and push your boundaries," Keenan told Aggro Active in May 2001. "Kind of take yourself where you haven't been and put yourself in different shoes; all of those clichés..."

The concept grew out of the sideways photographic shot, reflecting the idea of erotic charge inherent in the area of waist -> thigh which holds the most erogenous interest, by defining defining ambiguity (by not explicitly revealing the genitalia, but denoting - in outline - the curve of the backside and thigh), and also literally displaying the 'lateralis' muscle, part of the quadriceps group. The eroticism of ambiguity and hiddenness was therefore the point of exploration here (as echoed in the frisson of the old trope of certain men being more interested in a woman whose dress being blown around on a windy day than in a fully-exposed 'page 3' model) - whilst leaving the genital area as a question mark. This questioning/ambiguous zone is itself left in a space of ambiguity, being both present in the actual scene, but not visible in the resulting recording, due to the nature of the angle, the pose, and the direction of the camera. The 'tease' is therefore on the part of the camera as much as the performer/model, as a rotation of ninety degrees of either would reveal the 'hiddenness' to the viewer. This idea of having more information present than is chosen to be shown has begun to feed into sketchy plans for a possible live work - exploring, for example, the concept of a recorded performance interacting with a live, physical one, in which a 'full exposure' may be made on the recording, but which is covered up (censored) by the hand, say, of the performer interacting with that recording - in which precise temporal and spatial placement of the live performer combine to obscure what would otherwise be a more explicit 'revelation' to the audience. In a case such as this, synchronization and choreography would be required to 'keep them guessing'. No doubt there are theories of spatial/temporal placement in performance which can articulate this better, but at this stage it as much a case of 'putting out feelers' as much as anything. 

In terms of feminine eroticism, this idea was given to me in a conversation with a trans friend some years ago, where she described the waist->thigh section of the body as capable of displaying the most charged imagery, with its attendant accessories of suspender/garter straps, stocking tops, G-string, etc.

Hardwired

The short film 'Hardwired' is already video-documented online with regards to the 30 years of my ongoing interest in Cyberpunk and sci-fi, and the movie itself features its own art-history narrative and explanation in the dialogue. What remains to be added here, then, is really the deeper notions of integration/disintegration, expressed through the figures of the twins who are similar in so many ways, yet so apart in others: both in terms of personality, outlook, career, and location. Despite this they remain joined via the 'fragments of each other', whether physical - like Em's Godzilla postcard and Motorhead LP, which reflect Jay's interest in these pop-culture things - their DNA - and their shared memories (Jay digging up 'Grandpa's onion patch' in an early disclosure of his long-term archaeological interests). The concepts of duality and integration, again with reference to ancient philosophical and mystical systems (yin/yang, Gnostic and alchemical works), are themes I've developed over nearly 20 years of writing narrative fiction and creating artworks in various forms. Can true unity ever be reached, or is it an eternally untouchable ideal? Jay's line that "we were the same person, once..." hints at the idea of 'splitting off' that which can never again be re-integrated physically - as the twins have grown up to become two separate entities, and perhaps the only way to rediscover what was lost is through the psychological, subconscious realm, in Jungian terms, or via Joseph Campbell's 'hero journey'.

Throw in a third, ambiguous spectator in the form of the Medusa sculpture herself - one who passively watches, records, surveys - in tune with current (and futuristic) surveillance culture - and we have a distinct loop of gazes which Em describes to Jay in their last communication, and which ultimately is shared between artist and creation in the final sequence, wherein one is literally looking through the eye/s of the other and the surveyor becomes the surveyed and vice versa, with the artist becoming an extension of the artwork. This idea probably has its origins in my studies of performance artist Stelarc and his use of cyborg and technology/human interfaces, and can be inferred as the Medusa sculpture appropriating the human form for its own ends - functioning limbs and organs which have now extended beyond the limitations of the static, constructed figure, being a complete reverse of Stelarc or Haraway's cyborg embodiments - the 'meat' becoming secondary to, and controlled by, the 'machine', whereby Medusa's gaze is extended beyond the limit of what she was originally equipped with (or at least as far as the 'hardwired' cable can run).

Endura

The title firstly refers to the concept of endurance - both on the part of the performer (a 15-minute, non-stop improvisational dance/striptease work*) and on the part of the viewer (how long they choose to engage with the work). The work is a rough concept for what may, in some form, end up as a public performance further down the line, perhaps with reference to the interactive recorded/live acts sketched above for 'Lateralus'. The title derives from the form of ritualistic purification practiced by the medieval Cathar sect, often used to precede death (though often misconstrued as a 'hunger strike' or suicide ritual).

The enactment of ritual, and accompanying ecstatic forms, are augmented by the looped Sufi 'trance' music, with an occasional abandonment suggestive of the Maenads and ancient ritual frenzy. This ritualistic element is repeated in one of my reference points, Roland Barthes' 1960s essay on striptease.

The underlying theme is again one of ambiguity: How far can the pretence of a NB person 'masquerading' as femme be taken, without actual revelation? If I was a cisgender female, the final reveal would be complete - but as I'm biologically not, it isn't - but only if the viewer reads me as a male-bodied performer, hence the ambiguity (or lack thereof) is as much a construct in the mind of the viewer, as it is a deliberate and knowing ploy on my part.

*The concept of a one-take, non-stop 'endurance-based' and improvised performance, was first explored in my MFAAH work of a year ago, the 'Medusa Chronicles'.