Performance for a party commissioned by Lauren Prakke
Philip and Charlotte Colbert studio / London
June 27, 2018
Curated by Anna Shpilko
Production Ivan Yushkov, Anna Leonova
Images by Olga Kotilevskaya (Lioncat)
With this new interactive work, the artist continues his research on the distance separating a work of performance art from its audience.
Wearing a real chair on his shoulders, leaving only his head visible through an opening in the middle of its seat, the artist becomes a live trap for playful party people who want to take things a bit further than usual.
The artist’s body is hidden under a black chair cover, allowing the chair-ensconced head to suddenly appear in the middle of the party once everyone is already well-pixelated.
The artist begins walking among the euphoric guests, staring into the eyes of selected individuals from time to time. Once a victim is chosen, the Chair stops in front of them and kneels down. For a certain period of time, the artist tries to look into the eyes of his chosen object, then tries to convince them to sit on his wonderful chair with spread legs and his head facing their groin. Most of the victims are easy to work with - so the interaction concludes with them catching the artist’s head between their thighs and playing with their new toy. But as they quickly come to understand, the toy isn’t that safe. After using their lipstick on the artist’s face and getting dangerously close to his sharp tongue over the course of a very light-hearted conversation, most of the victims realize they are trapped. The artist then attempts to stand up and carry the victim away. After short interval, he reappears, walking around in search of a new victim.
The dangerous chair and its head turn out to be too close to the audience, but the audience only wants more - and after certain point, they don’t mind the complete merging of spectator and performer that serves as a pompous coda to the symphony.
