best asian -or- i love www.asos.com

As of late I have come across some serious blockages in my research. I’m finding it difficult to marry the linguistic play of the theory and the experiential quality of performance. As such I need to post something out into the ether, see if anything bounces back

What I want to do for my next performance is articulate the disenfranchisement I feel in the way in which my skin is politicized without my consent. Casual racism isn’t the right phrase but it’s the first phrase that comes to mind

Inevitably it’s more complicated than that. There was also a level of naivety on my part, which I need to acknowledge. The groups of people that I have performed for have mainly been caucasian. There aren’t many people in performance of my skin tone, at least by comparison to a causation baseline. This fact is actually advantageous to my practice as dissatisfaction with the way in which ones body is read is a reoccurring theme in many of the performers that I have looked at. Ron Athey has dealt with homosexuality and other occurring queer reading of his body. Marina Abramovic and Gina Pane dealt with issues of female subjugation and some of the unspoken values placed on their female bodies. As ever there are less straight forward examples as well. Vito Acconci creates a type of body based performance that i find confusing, posing some very complicated questions in relation to a male sexuality that doesn’t seem to infer a queer body. Chris Burden doesn’t seem to be fighting against anything in particular. If anything his risk based performance work seemed to confirm a strong white male body and its ability to endure pain for the audiences sake.

So what is my agenda or stance? Might my body based performance take such a political bent?

I’m not sure, in many social contexts ,my skin tone means that i stand out, something i realize only when someone points it out to me (and they do). Hopefully I can iterate a story that will help to highlight this.

When finishing University some of the more more active members of the year (myself not being one of them) decided to organize an awards ceremony for our last night out together. Best looking, laziest student etc… upon hearing of these awards i knew that i would win one. Not because i fit into the best or worst of any category, but because generally I didn’t fit. Out of choice and design i preferred to stay at the periphery of the drunken masses. What this meant in reality was that i was very unhappy during my university experience and concentrated on my work instead. Not something i regret,  as it was justified by my eventual grade. So on the night in question as I feared I did in fact win an award. I won the ‘best asian’ now being the only asian this was actually quite funny, especially considering the fact that someone else had to come second and third. However at the time the inclusion of the category made me very uncomfortable even if i could not articulate why. In hindsight i think that for all the ways that i wanted to be fashionably ostracized my skin color was not one of them. Categorization in this way strips away nuance, and I find this difficult.

Maybe I’m being overly sensitive to the ways in which my ethnicity is punctuated.

Maybe I should accept that being part of a minority I will draw attention

Maybe next time I’ll tell you what if feel like being questioned by airport police whilst trying to board a flight to Aya Napa

performance 3 cut piece -or- i don’t own my own skin

my third performance was a reinterpretation of Yoko Ono’s Cut piece (1965). as this performance was significant, difficult and enlightening it requires a proper entry.

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the origins of this performance went thusly. as i was placing my work in line with other body based practitioners, the clear influence being the european/american body art experiments of the 1970’s i felt that it would be useful to revisit some key pieces. further in understanding what my practice would be i considered that this mechanism of re-staging might push my research forward. the inevitable questions arising would focus on how my work and theirs coalesced and what this was done for. clearly there are differing variables in place gender, race, time… the list goes on

the original performance

ok for the purposes of context i should position the original piece

Yoko Ono by the mid 1960 was an established figure in the new York underground art scene. Loosely affiliated with the Fluxus art movement they would engage in pieces that involved artistic experimentation as well and social and political activism. Profoundly effected by the sense of humour of the Dada artists, fluxus would be come the precursor to performance work that came out of a gallery rather than theatre environment. Its participants were a divergent group of individualists whose most common theme was their delight in spontaneity and humor. Fluxus producing such mixed-media works as found poems, mail art, silent orchestras, and collages of such readily available materials as scavenged posters, newspapers, and other ephemera. Their activities resulted in many events or situations, often called “Aktions” many of them similar to what in America were known as Happenings.

into this context is placed the work of Yoko ono’s ‘Cut Piece’. In it Ono sat on the stage and invited audience members to come up and cut away her clothing, covering her breasts with her hands as her garments fell away

VIDEO

Deconstructing the supposed neutral subject/object relationship between the viewer and the art object. Ono presented a situation in which the viewer is implicated him/herself in the potentially aggressive act of unveiling the passive body. This was further loaded with gender issues by the fact that the body was female. Emphasizing the reciprocal way that viewers and subjects become objects for each other.  Cut piece also demonstrates the ways in which viewing without responsibility may cut into and destroy the object of perception.

Of this work yoko Ono said

‘people went on cutting the parts they do not like of me . Finally there was only the stone remained that was in me but they were sill not satisfied and wanted to know what’s it’s like in a stone’ (Yoko Ono artists statement, 1971)

why i chose it

i chose to re-stage this particular performance for a variety of reasons.

primarily (and lets be realistic) its a relatively easy one to put together. it requires a body some scissors and a space. It was also a specific intention to try and simplify my performance process after the first performance to become king . this would allow me to see this performance as an experiment and be about one thing.

secondly in trying to understand ways in which my body might be subjugated (that is a very telling sentence) i used this performances overt political reading and built on it.  the context of the original performance is much discussed and i hoped that my interpretation  would  engage in a more overt stance in relation to how my body is treated

thirdly the mode of interaction was set out clearly by the perimeters of the performance and an assumed understanding (on the part of the audience) of the pieces lineage. this would hopefully cause less confusion for my audience

fourthly i wanted to own my ethnicity for once. in previous performances my ethnicity has been politicized. my actions given a political positioning because of the colour of my skin. i don’t expect my audience to have the same reading of my work as me but i have previously begun to resent (however irrational this may be) how my ethnicity was hijacked (i know) . this is difficult for me to resolve but inherent because of the nature of the practice  . so i decided to own such readings this time and decided to shirk the drama blacks, and instead wore a shalwar kameez

the context for this garment for me is complex but important. for my audience its ethnic context would have been inferred by the heavily embroider front, if it werent for this it may just appear to be some baggy pajamas. The garment itself has no specific religious context, even in pakistan it is worn as convenient comfortable everyday where. However in Britain by comparison it is often worn on specifically religious occasions such as Friday prayer and Eid.

Significantly for my mostly caucasian audience none of these deeper meanings would be available (this is an assumption in and of itself). This was probably a failing of the performance and should have been made clear through an accompanying blurb or through the performance itself.

what happened

Several interesting things happened in the performance

the audience was by no means as skittish as they were for the previous shave performance. Evidently they drew reassurance form each other

The audience self policed. When someone in the crowd placed a piece of cloth on my head to mock me it was removed by another member of the crowd. Evidently taking the piss was not allowed

The performance was completed by my nudity. It was much easier for the audience to handle a naked body that one that was ethnically ambiguous. Ironically the nudity was actually the safe option.

The shift from person to object was realized through language. An audience member shocked themselves when they referred to me as if I wasn’t there and ran away

The text in the space on the board became a reference point with the audience analyzing its semantics to spur them on.

what did I learn

I learned
That I felt far more exposed by my shalwar kamiz than I did when naked. I think its something about being able to eek out an identity beyond that of my ethnic identity that is stripped when i’m in ‘traditional’ dress

I learned
That Language and the audiences need for a reference point becomes essential in interactive works. Further that it was through language that the audience realized my object hood

performance 2 shave -or- is it immoral to spend £55 on some Ada FCUK Shorts

the context for this performance was very simple. i wanted to see what happens when i specifically court interactivity and intimacy in the performance space.

for this performance i asked audience members to come into a black box performance space one by one and shut the door behind them. i was sat in the space with a buzzing head shaver on a table next to me switched on. as the participant came and sat in front of i told them that they had 1 minute in the space for which i took total responsibility.

their reactions were fascinating

most did nothing as i gave them direct eye contact for a minute, before asking them to leave. a lot of these people never even made a gesture towards the razor and seemed uncomfortable. one or two did take the opportunity but rather more politely than i had expected shaved off precise amounts of hair on my back or shoulders. some sat as far away from me as was possible in their chair. careful not to touch me in any way. and some didn’t even make it through the minute when i didn’t respond to their questions and left early.

at the time of the performance i was not prepared for how little people would actually want to touch me. in hindsight this performance was possibly more confrontational than i has expected. this assumptions of peoples fear in interacting with me would be turned on its head in my next performance. the comparative nature of this next performance was massively important in understanding dynamics of writing in the space as well as the differences in group and one to one performances.

performace 1 to become king -or- is it immoral to spend $295.00 on a jacket

in this addition i want to put up my writing on the previous performances that i’ve done. i wish my comments were more incisive but at this stage i just want my writing to exist beyond a hidden folder on my hard drive. therefore the purpose of this post is to be up to date.

also in understanding what my first official chapter will be it will be useful to understand where i have come from. my performances so far:

1- to be come king

2- shave

3- yoko ono cut piece

4- instructions for performance/take out

5- instructions for performance/takeout 2

and now the break down

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to be come king

fortunately for this performance i still have the proposal that was sent to the university

Name of performance: Performance 1 to become king

When: Friday 7th December
The purpose of this performance is to engage in a performative consideration of my body and its fluctuation between an othered and ordered status. In a wider context it will articulate my difficult and sometimes conflicting cultural position as both a British citizen and member of the Muslim community.

For the performance I will stand naked in the space and apply Mehndi onto my body. Then at a previously decided cue will perform the actions of Wudu (ritual cleansing) with water. This is a durational performance in which my body will alternate between a pure and impure status never entirely reaching either.

In understanding the theoretical aims of this performance it is best to understand the parts in relation to their originating cultural context. Mehndi is the application of Henna, a plant based dye used in skin decoration in North Africa , the middle East, India and Southeast Asia. Used to create dense intertwining patterns which dye the skin this material is predominantly used on the hands and feet. The wider cultural context in its use however is its exclusivity as a female beautification product. By utilising a material that has an exclusive feminine association (even in a British context) I hope to other my body’s status and disrupt the clear gender definitions that articulate an implicit and stable male body.

The use of Wudu in this context also has certain culturally specific qualities that require expansion. Wudu is the practice of cleansing performed by Muslims before prayer or reading the Qur’an. Although the ritual is used to cleanse the body it is only a partial reflection of the Ghusl in which the entire body is submerged in water. The Wudu only touches on the hands, feet and head and is therefore less about the removal or dirt than a symbolic preparation for religious activity. I have specifically chosen a purification ritual for this performance as contrast to the Mendhi, which symbolically dirties my body by blurring lines of gender. Through performance I hope the Wudu to become the dynamic opposite to the ritual of Mendhi between which my body is sent back and forth.

This performance is to be durational where the audience is able to enter the space and watch the actions performed at their will. This process is designed to reflect the ongoing status of my body as it navigates the two states. The overall effect is the ability of the audience to catch me in a consistent state of transition as I perform the two actions.

in hindsight there were few things that ‘worked’ in this performance, but as the purpose at this stage was experimentation i learned some valuable information.

firstly i realized that without the above text the audience for my performance would not be aware of the cultural context of my ‘othering’. mendhi and its gendered context may not be clear to an audience that was not from the same cultural background.

secondly the original intention of my performance changed into a more interactive focus. when i did the performance someone directly painted me with mendhi and like a light bulb over my head i knew that this was more important than anything else, the interaction. to the point at which when people left the room i didn’t want to perform.

thirdly when its me in the room with three or more people its a very public atmosphere. when others leave and its just me with one other person it switched to something very private. apparently an audience can be made up of just one other person

Aims and Objectives -or- i dont know if i have the energy for big brother this year

this is part of my continuing assault on my proposal. whatever happens I’m gonna get through it tonite. WHATEVER HAPPENS!

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Aims and Objectives

Therefore my research will be organized around these research aims:

Examine body based live art practices that engage in notions of cultural and religious identity and the theoretical discourses that surround them.

i have looked at other body based practices but not ones that specifically focus on cultural and religious identity. I think that it would be useful to look at marisa carnesky. specifically jewess tattooess. described on her site as

A multimedia (performance, video, film, instillation) live art/theatre piece that explores the Jewish taboo against body art, looking at the cultural and religious implications of a Jewess who chooses to become heavily tattooed.

its interesting to look at how religion and her body intersect. however it is not a straight equivalence with my own work. the issues of race (the tone of my skin a clear indication of my ethnic origin) and gender make my work particular

Develop my own performance praxis in order to articulate the specifics of my cultural and religious contexts.

i think this was there in my first performance ‘king for a day’. and my remaking of yoko ono’s cut piece ‘performance 3’ . i think that in these performances i at least owned such readings.

Consider Islamic culture in relation to the body in contemporary Britain.

i have both done this and avoided the issue. i would go far as to say that i am actively scared about doing this. its such a large and ponderous issue. i think that the only way in which i can deal with it is to be very specific and start small

however, i think that here this issue of resistance can be bought up. articulating the disjoint in how my body is politicized with or without my consent

The above aims will be collated around practical and theoretical objectives. Examining existing body based performance; my study will articulate the role of the flesh in this medium and its emotive capabilities. This will help to engage in the racial politics at play in my own work and articulate the capabilities of this medium in conjunction with these issues.

fairly standard stuff i think. although understanding the emotive capabilities of the flesh sounds awkward

As a Practice as Research in Performance project there are inevitable issues of documentation that my study will have to address. The body based performance artists on whom this study focuses stress the emotive capabilities of the body in a live event (Miglietti, 2003). Politically this is used to address cultural values concerning the body and its relationship to identity and society. This ‘liveness’ is deemed impactful by articulating the makings of cultural beliefs ‘within the present, they are marked as dependent upon a time; their contingency and instability is open to scrutiny (Heathfield, 2004: 9). My documentation will acknowledge such issues of embodiment as well as forward the particular thematic concerns of my practice. This will require an engagement with the theoretical discourses surrounding performance documentation (Kaye 2000, Reason 2006) and will help in articulating my practice within a critical academic framework. In conjunction with issues surrounding the live event there will be a further need to explore the relationship between my practice and its audience, specifically the necessity for their presence and how that impacts upon my need to make work.

i haven’t even begun to look at documentation i have been to busy trying to figure out what my practice is. although i do know that it works alongside my practical work. this could take place via a ghost text or traditional thesis

also this blog is obviously as useful place to start in relation to my documentation and flesh out some ideas

Finally in understanding the relationship between Islam and the body my research will have to examine the ‘traditional’ way in which the two interact. This will require an exploration of existing religious practices concerning the body and the texts from which they originate. However, in making this research relevant the focus will be on evolving this into a study of Islam and the body in a British setting. This will provide genuine areas of new knowledge concerning issues of hybridity that hinge on readings of the body.

‘hybridity’ what a horrible term

The Introduction/shit big brother is on in 5 minutes

i wonder if big brother will be any good this year. I’m gonna watch the opening show and find out

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Introduction

This practice-led PhD will focus upon cultural and religious identities in the context of body-based Live Arts practice.

this feels inherent. inevitable considering the style of practice

An initial exploration of extant practices (including, but not limited to the work of Ron Athey, Franco B, Kira O’Reilly and Gina Pane)

an inevitable question here is where does my practice sit in relation to these practitioners:

-similar-
they articulate (whether this is through interpretation or interview) an ostracized body be it female, gay or diseased. is my body ostracized? if so how?

-un-similar-
i haven’t bled

this needs development

will develop to include a performative consideration of my own body and cultural position as both a British citizen and member of the Muslim community.

what I’m incredibly weary of is my body being hijacked as endemic of integration. or representative of a section of society. i hate that my skin is politicised in such a way. and my practice at this stage needs to articulate that disconnect. if anything i need to get angrier

The purpose of this project is to examine how culture and religion can be inhabited and critiqued through both existing live body art and my own emerging, theoretically informed, practices.

this is possibly the most useful part of this introduction. how the body inhabits these reading and how i can use them to my advantage

this needs development

i guess i have to start somewhere/the title

as this is my first post i have to be clear that I’m not sure what this space will do. is it designed to:

-be a conduit for my research and therefor provide a useful jump off point for people to contact me?

-be an easy way to document my practice even though i understand that this is a far more complex issue than can be summarized in a blog?

-be a diary of sorts where i type out into the ether?

-be a useful writing exercise that forces me to articulate my thoughts into legible sentences because of an assumed readership?

regardless i expect the remit and reasoning for such a writing will evolve (assuming that i keep up with it) and so it may be useful to start the beginning with my PHD proposal

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The Title

The body as a site of resistance: readings of Islam in contemporary Britain

what strikes me straight away is that i had forgotten the title, this is very odd considering that its what I’d been working on for the past 12 months. it felt very necessary at the time to eek out a place for my work within the plethora of practices within my field.

…but

what i feel is relevant now and something that i will retain is this issue of ‘resistance’. as in owning the disconnect in how my brown skin is politicized. specifically when this happens without my consent.

this supports the overtly reflexive push of my performances so far. maybe it was naive of me to not factor this into how my body would be read. the audiences their racial make up becomes as relevant as mine

i think the issue of race may be unavoidable. this makes me angry. but as it isn’t something i can change as my body is my tool. i should at least own it