for instance, christian stood in front of us the whole time and did not have any visual presentation. he reminded me of gwendoline robin, the other artist who also worked in a very direct way with the element of risk. as gwendoline worked with the colours white and black, christian worked with the colours burgundy and white. both artists spoke of the pleasure of knowing and mastering a skill, or rather, their material. both artists vacated any kind of social, political, or personal meaning from their work, and rather spoke of their work through a visual language. the poetics of the image, of the confrontation between this violent gesture and the beauty of the image created.

christian presented his work in a thoughtful and searching manner. we could feel him trying to find the words to express something he could not put into words. this « why? » of the specifics of violence meeting with poetry. what was very clear though, was that he is in his work. he is deeply engaged with what it is he is creating. his work is highly crafted and controlled and he is very much in the performance.

there is a point of connect, as well, between the approach of monika and ruedi to christian. all three artists seem to come to their work from a very grounded, almost physical « it is this » approach. although monika and ruedi did not feel the need to find « justifications » for their work in the same way as christian, the manner of describing the work was very much, this happened, we did this.

monika started the presentation with describing their day-to-day life. the fact that they live in a small apartment, they have no studio, the kitchen table is where they work on things… and the most common question asked to them, « what is performance, » to which they reply, « come see. » the next question, can you survive on this? to which they reply, we have a very nice life (that is a paraphrase, i can’t remember the exact words.) they showed us photographs and spoke of some of their most recent performances. they spoke of liking performance festivals, of liking being asked to perform at a festival by another performer (the museum experience has not been so great for them.)

there was a strong feeling of self acceptance to be found in the presentation, which i found to be very comforting. the matter-of-fact and humble manner in which monika and ruedi spoke of their work and their life evoked an atmosphere that acted as a kind of « granting of permission » to those of us who are perhaps somewhat younger and perhaps struggling with the whys and the justifications we feel necessary to give to the world and to ourselves, in order to continue with our own practices.

and then as a gift at the end monika gave us a « performance » because, as she said, « i like to do it. »

paul couillard and ed johnson also obviously « like to do it, » however for them the work, the material used, the actions performed, are « holders » for significance that point beyond the source. the performances created are to lead the receiver of the « image » somewhere. both ed and paul speak of the performance as an image. they are creating images which are then imprinted into the receivers mind. their work is politically and socially engaged…and engaged with each other.

even in their presentation the collaborative, the working with each other, was « performed » with paul jumping up every once in a while and acting out a particular scene with his body that ed was trying to explain verbally. the sense of an equal partnership that worked in a back and forth style of negotiation, with strengths of each being used for the duo work, was strong.

the dynamics of the couple seemed to echo the dynamic that they themselves want to evoke in the reception of their images. the images they create are to be negotiated, worked through, and engaged with.

christian messier: http://www.pejucommunication.com/christianmessier.html

monika gunther and ruedi schill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfxS8H8NB7Q

ed johnson and paul couillard: http://www.artspace-arc.org/exhibits/duorama/couillard_johnson

gwendoline robin: http://www.gwendolinerobin.be

his body was treated as a material that he acted upon. he drank a bottle of wine, pouring the wine into a wine-glass and then creating that eerie sound that comes from rubbing your wet finger over the rim of the glass. he drank the wine and poured himself another glass, rubbing his wet finger over the rim of the glass, drinking, pouring, rubbing.

then he set his head on fire. a calm fire in comparison to gwendoline blowing her head off, but a fire all the same. then he ate the peppers from the pepper plant and proceeded to vomit.

copious amounts of liquid. red liquid seeped down into the deep end of the pool in long red lines. the place began to stink like vomit.

christian got up out of his chair and undressed till he was naked. then he took a bag of flour and put it on the floor. crouching down in a kind of classical pose he licked his finger and stuck it into the flour, took his finger out of the flour and put his flour encrusted finger into his mouth. then he began to lick himself and rub flour over his body, making his flesh white, as white as flour.

at one point he held the bag up over his head and poured the flour into his mouth and over his head.

taking his fist he hit himself in the chest. he repeated this gesture, gradually hitting himself faster and with more vigour until his chest and his hand were red, or rather; burgundy. the colour of the wine he had drunk and vomited onto the floor.

i had an interesting response to this performance. usually, or in the past, i would have wanted to leave the room. i find performances where self harm is enacted especially difficult to endure. but with christian my response was different. i felt somehow removed, distant. i am not sure if this was because of the almost casual manner in wich he enacted his self-harming gestures, or if it was because i read his actions as separate from his person, as if christian was separate from his body.

i am wondering if this is part of what christian is performing. enacting the gestures in an almost dispassionate way so as to remove any emotional charge. so it becomes a matter of fact: this body is vomiting, this head is on fire, this mouth opens and chews and swallows red peppers, this fist hits this chest.

at the end of the performance christian surprised me with exhaling into the air a white plume of flour. from his mouth flour rose into the air. an act that felt quite magical, reminding me of bbb when he was reaching into the audience and catching our spirits with his hands.

christian messier: http://www.pagede.com/christianmessier.htm