DELTA (Silence is Sexy) 2018

22 Sep 2018 : Critical Path, The Drill Hall, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, Australia.

This version of DELTA was presented for the Sydney Festival of Death and Dying on the Performance Night and so a short performance duration was required. The soundtrack by Einstürzende Neubauten : ‘Silence is Sexy’, brings a black humour to the topic of death. In this performance I utilise 300 metres of black crepe paper to express spirit and separation between this world and the next. Oozy and sinuous, sculptural, elegant, smoky, mysterious, the paper can suggest Chinese streamer gymnasts, celebrations, or unseen spirits coming to embrace or grab me. The paper becomes both sculptural and a costume, as black sinuous tendrils of paper fly and extend into space. Crepe streamers evoke parties and celebrations, but these are broad colourless strips, ominous in their black form, yet elegant in their pleats, suggesting high fashion. Ultimately they congeal into a collected mass threatening to consume me even as I cloak and conceal myself within it, suggesting a dark spirit presence beneath, or the complete annihilation of death.. For those familiar with artistic references, works that come to mind are Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota’s immense string installations, American artist Nick Cave’s costumes such as Sound Suit, and Australian Louise Paramour’s honeycomb paper sculptures in Lustgarten, performer Justin Shoulder’s self-extending costume-creatures, and finally the dirty corners and black voids of English/Indian artist Anish Kapoor. For me the simple action of pulling a length from a roll represents the repetitive action of the tailor measuring out cloth for a suit, and the generic image of the meek Jewish Tailor.



Project Details
Dates 22 Sep 2018
Duration 10 minutes
Producer Sydney Festival of Death and Dying
Category solo
Credits Festival Director : Peter Banki; Performance Night Curator : Victoria Spence.; Video: Mike Leggett Photos: Mike Leggett & Dean Walsh