Department of Biological Flow
NASA (New Analog Space Anticipation)
2012
performance and video
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The Museum of Human Achievement
Austin, TX
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The moiré — as a spacing operation of grids laid upon one another — is not the same as Deleuze and Guattari’s smooth space emerging or escaping from the limits of striation, nor is it the same as the holey space that connects the striated and smooth via declination or vortical movement. And yet its watered silk still offers us a hydraulic model to perceive, but only when we are in movement. When standing still the traces of the moiré’s interference pattern remain as afterimages, barely perceptible — though it has only come to life in the first place once we have as well: in movement (cf. the discontinuity of Massumi’s ‘movement-vision’??). Rippling, shimmering: as we move with these grids our relation unfolds to suggest previously unseen contours and trajectories lying dormant within the metric machinery of these information ecologies.
Department of Biological Flow
Fück Yoü Jeff Kööns (Umlaut Gait Surf)
2012
performance
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“A site-specific performance in Frankfurt, Germany. Relational gait surfing bodies are prosthetically extended by means of balloon semio-technologies. The tempos and ethics of the surf must be recalibrated and renegotiated for this windy performative context. From displeasure emerges pleasure.”
Department of Biological Flow
ICQ (Inverted Cubofuturist Query)
2011
performance
Toronto Nuit Blanche 2011
approx. 30mins
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“See and be seen. Interpolate and interpellate. In an explicit gesture to Duchamp and the Russian Futurists, the Department of Biological Flow offers ICQ (Inverted Cubofuturist Query), a performance that reconsiders the question of tempo in public space and interrogates opportunities for movement in the contemporary vision machine.”
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Program:
1. Plug kinoderm tail appendage into faux kino-gait transcribing device.
2. Begin walking staircase. Ensure a steady rhythm.
3. Using surgical devices at hand (scissors, small garden shears, Japanese band saw, large BBQ knife), cut away from kinoderm while walking up stairs.
4. If gait slows down too much, cease cutting and resume steady rhythm.
5. The performance ends once the artist has cut free from the kinoderm and fled the gaze.
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(The full video for a second performance of ICQ (Inverted Cubofuturist Query) in 2012 may be viewed on Youtube.)
Marina Abramović and Ulay
Breathing In, Breathing Out
1977
still from performance
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“Ulay and Abramovic introduce the video of ‘Breathing in, Breathing out’ (April 1977, Belgrade) as follows: ‘We are kneeling face to face, pressing our mouths together. Our noses are blocked with cigarette filters.’ Ulay says: ‘I am breathing in oxygen. I am breathing out carbon dioxide.’ Abramovic: ‘I am breathing in carbon dioxide. I am breathing out carbon dioxide.’ Ulay: ‘I am breathing in carbon dioxide. I am breathing out carbon dioxide.’ In November of the same year, the reverse version of ‘Breathing in, Breathing out’ was performed at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam under the title ‘Breathing out, Breathing in’. The intimacy suggested by the video still is actually misleading. For almost twenty minutes, Ulay and Abramovic depend desperately on each other to stay alive. They share their breath, without external access to oxygen. The physical struggle that ensues due to the lack of oxygen and to the breathing in of carbon dioxide is visibly exhausting. Abramovic is sweating profusely; her breathing is clearly audible. Ulay manages to control the rhythm of his breathing for slightly longer, but soon he is suffering too. At that point, Ulay and Abramovic are no longer sitting still, but are moving vehemently to and fro until they cannot take it anymore. They let go of each other’s mouths, gasping to regain their breath. Compared to the other performances based on bodily stamina, this highly strenuous performance is relatively short, due to the lack of the most essential ingredient of life.”
Stelarc
Involuntary Body / Third Hand
schematic for various performances during 1990s
