"Invocation to Bacchus" was performed at the "Picnic Pavilion", Venice, Italy in May 2019, a parallel project to the 58th Venice Biennale.
Life Blood
Eat Me : Drink Me
Both performances were loosely informed by the myth of Dionysus (Bacchus) and Ariadne and feminist theory. I explored the idea of communication with Bacchus through various materials and modes of invocation.
Part 1: LIFE BLOOD 30 min live performance
The Greek cult of Bacchus (Dionysus) represented freedom and celebrated ecstatic states of being induced by elixirs, movement and sound and was open to women, slaves and foreigners. It celebrated pleasure, the body, ecstatic states, but it’s exact nature and rituals remain a mystery. Calling to Bacchus the mythological Greco-Roman god of life blood, ecstasy and liberation. Wrapped in a simple white cloth, I began by moving throughout the rooms ringing a cord of small bells. In the main space I knelt behind a glass bowl full of red wine. Slowly and with concentration I dipped a small glass bowl into the larger one and bought it to my lips as if to drink, but instead the wine runs down my chin, soaking in and seeping out of the garment. I repeated this meditative action until all of the wine was drained from the bowl and transferred to my body, garment and pooled on the floor.
Part 2: EAT ME : DRINK ME 4 min live semaphore flag performance and installation
Semaphore is a system of visual and movement based communication that uses flags held in different positions to represent letters to spell out phrases communicated across distances (typically Nautical). Standing on a well in the Campo, I performed a semaphore love letter. I was dressed in a poncho and hood made from vintage picnic tablecloths found in Venice at one of Venice's oldest shops. The flags incorporated this same fabric and picnic napkins from my grandmother. When not in use the poncho, hood and flags were installed in the gallery space. The picnic is a movable / portable site for pleasure and consumption, but in this case my body was the site of the picnic.
