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c/o P.S.1's International Studio Program |
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1- POTLATCH 1.1, 1997
Freezer display, 70 glass bottles of natural spring water, 70 bottles of sparkling water
In Potlach 1.1 while the mineral water is freezing the bottles explode inside the freezer.
2 - POTLATCH 3.1/A BOUT DE SOUFFLE, 1998
Four vacuum cleaners, duck tape Dimensions vary according to the installation
The vacuum cleaners' tubes are connected together front/back in a loop so that the air moves only inside. As the temperature increases rapidly one by one the engines start burning until all noises and functions cease.
This work is a tribute to Jean-Luc Godard and more extensively to all the Nouvelle Vague authors, who pushed to the limits ordinary daily situations.
3- P4 SKY, 1999
(performance in collaboration with Susanna Scarpa)
Beauty massage bed, electric stimulator machine (PK Sky), flight attendant uniform, audio-mix (sounds and dialogues from the film by Robert Zemeckis) - time: 60 minutes Norma Jeane 3.1: Leon
Norma Jeane, dressed with a flight attendant uniform, is lying on a beauty massage bed. Electric stimulator patches (the ones used to passively enhance muscular tone through the emission of electric waves) have been placed on her buttocks. The soundtrack is a mix of dialogues and the recording of pulsing waves coming from deep space.
4 - Drum Machine, 2000
Electrocardiograph, various DJs gear, monitors - time: 45 minutes
DJ set by: WANG Inc.+magnifique? I'm going out of my head (Ilo + Peak Nick) - Norma Jeane 4:1: Penelope X
Monitored by an electrocardiograph Norma Jeane dances at the rhythm of her heart, which is being mixed by the group of DJs. At the same time monitors around the club display the ongoing electrocardiogram.
5 - Around Easter time they undertook the sacrificial slayng of a young man of irreproachable beauty. He was chosen from among the captives the previous year, and from that moment he lived like a great lord. "He went through the whole town very well dressed, with flowers in his hands and accompanied by certain personalities. He would bow graciously to all whom he met, and they all knew he was the image of Tezcatlipoca (one of the greatest gods) and prostrated themselves before him, worshipping the temple on top of the pyramid of Quauchxicalco: "Up there he would play the flute at night or in the daytime, whichever time he wished to do it. After playing the flute, he too would incense toward the four parts of the world, and than return home, to his room." Every care was taken to ensure the elegance and princely distinction of his life. "If, due to the good treatment he grew stout, they would make him drink salt-water to keep slender." "Twenty days previous to the festival they gave this youth four maidens, well prepared and educated for this purpose. During those twenty days he had carnal intercourse with these maidens. The four girls they gave him as wives and who have been reared with special care for that purpose were given names of four goddesses...Five days before he was to die they gave festivities for him, banquets held in cool and gay places, and many chieftains and prominent people accompanied him. On the day of the festival when he was to die they took him to an oratory, which they called Tlacuchcalco. Before reaching it, at a place called Tlapituoaian, the women stepped aside and left him. As he got to the place where he was to be killed, he mounted the steps by himself and on each one of these he broke one of the flutes which he had played during the year." "He was awaited at the top by the satraps or priests who where to kill him, and these now grabbed him and threw him onto the stone block, and, holding him by feet, hands and head, thrown on his back, the priest who had the stone knife buried it with a mighty thrust in the victim's breast and, after drawing it out, thrust one hand into the opening and tore out the heart, which he at once offered to the sun." (...) A first bowl of the victim's blood, drained from the wound, was offered to the sun by the priests. A second bowl was collected by the sacrificer. The latter would go before the images of the gods and wet their lips with warm blood. The body of the sacrificed was his by right; he woul carry it home, setting aside the head, and the rest would be eaten at a banquet, cooked salt or spices - but eaten by the invited guests, not from the sacrificer, who regarded his victimas a son, as a second self.
(-Sacrifices and Wars of the Aztecs- in "The Accursed Share" vol.1 by Geoges Bataille, translated by Robert Hurley. ZONE BOOKS)
