Blood for Money: The Value of the
Bleeding Body in the Performances of
Michael Mayhew, Ron Athey, and Teresa
Margolles
by Lisa Newman
'Traditionally, the human body, our body, not the stage, is our true site for creation and materia prima. It’s our empty canvas, musical instrument, and open book; our navigation chart and biographical map; the vessel for our ever-changing identities; the centerpiece of the altar, so to speak. Our body is also the very centre of our symbolic
universe – a tiny model for humankind. . . - and at the same time, a metaphor for the larger socio-political body. If we’re capable of establishing all these connections in front of an audience, hopefully others will recognise them in their own bodies.'
Guillermo Gómez-Peña
Bleeding Body in the Performances of
Michael Mayhew, Ron Athey, and Teresa
Margolles
by Lisa Newman
'Traditionally, the human body, our body, not the stage, is our true site for creation and materia prima. It’s our empty canvas, musical instrument, and open book; our navigation chart and biographical map; the vessel for our ever-changing identities; the centerpiece of the altar, so to speak. Our body is also the very centre of our symbolic
universe – a tiny model for humankind. . . - and at the same time, a metaphor for the larger socio-political body. If we’re capable of establishing all these connections in front of an audience, hopefully others will recognise them in their own bodies.'
Guillermo Gómez-Peña
In this essay, I explore the use of blood in performance art as both a literal and representational determinant of the socio-cultural and economic value
of the body. Using the examples of contemporary works by artists Michael Mayhew, Ron Athey, and Teresa Margolles, I argue that the materiality of blood makes explicit the socio-cultural value of the body through an intersubjective corporeal exchange with an audience, in that they allow for the assertion of agency and validation of the marginalized social citizen through provoking a shared perception of the body in crisis.
of the body. Using the examples of contemporary works by artists Michael Mayhew, Ron Athey, and Teresa Margolles, I argue that the materiality of blood makes explicit the socio-cultural value of the body through an intersubjective corporeal exchange with an audience, in that they allow for the assertion of agency and validation of the marginalized social citizen through provoking a shared perception of the body in crisis.
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by Lisa Newman
by Lisa Newman