While doing a little light reading about Stelarc for my last post, I re-read a lot of his views on suspension and the body. I can’t recommend reading his reasons for suspending nearly enough as they are rather foreign (at least in expression) from the modern community, which seems to largely derive from Fakir, and thus Modern Primitives, as well as Allen and company’s work in the early-mid 90’s. Reading him talk about the “creaking of the skin” really resonates with me as a shared experience, which is pretty interesting in it’s own right, and one that many of us in the community can readily identify with.
Photo: Nina Kuo
Stelarc performed his first suspension event in 1978 and supposedly his final one in 1988, long before the days of BME and the suspension explosion (relative, of course) of the early 2000s. However, he very recently, 8 March 2012, performed another suspension, a “superman” in modern terms, in Melbourne for the Scott Livesey Galleries entitled Ear an Arm Suspension. That’s amazing! To return to an art form you haven’t been a part of in 24 years is spectacular! I’d love the opportunity to discuss how his experience changed from the previous events to this one.
Photo: Claudio Oyarce
Speaking of, our good friends Wings of Desire are hosting a Body Suspension Symposium in Oslo, Norway 19-21 October of this year and their special guest of honor is none other than Stelarc! Other guests include Allen Falkner, Steve Joyner, Paul King (a personal favorite lecturer), as well as the Wings of Desire team.
I’m really looking forward to meet him at this event in Oslo. Definitely will attend that – and I hope to see you there, too!