FOR BRAVADO PART2 (Video, running time 1 min 50 secs, 2 channel audio input) FEBRUARY 2015
PART2 of FOR BRAVADO is video documentation of a performance piece. The performance is set in the exact location where the body of Terence Bull was found and the video of the performance is interspersed with surrounding location shots of the M62 motorway. The performance involves me recreating the fall from the wall which was believed to be one of the explanations for how Mr Bull ended up behind the wall in the first place. I was interested in recreating the fall due to the physicality of the action and the awareness created through the embodiment of the movement. I am also attempting to take on the experience of Mr Bull.
When any fall is documented in art then Bas Jan Ader will often come to mind. Although there are many differences in approach and meaning I do admire the simplicity and sincerity in execution in which Ader conducted his gravity experiments and I have attempted to apply this to my work.
The video employs a long take which is then punctured by the movement of the fall. My intention was to create space for the action of the fall but to also leave space for the audio input from PART1. Looking at performance design I explored the importance of this space for extracting the right level of attention from the viewer/listener.
“The void has become a device for capturing and holding the attention of the audience”.
Munnelly, L. Drawing upon the Aesthetics of Immersion
But it is also the waiting which is important and the need of the viewer to remove themselves from the waiting.