Point de bascule

  
I woke up late and arrived an hour late at Le Petit Nice, a cafe at La Plaine. Here I met Edwige, Maria, Frank and my godchild Luna and we went to the apartment of Severine Prehembaud and Frederic Valabréque where we ate crepes and drank champagne. After lunch we walked through the streets of Marseilles avoiding traffic and squeezing between pedestrians and parked autos to arrive at 16:00 at La Point Buscale.  I was informed that I would be the last to perform.  Boo Hoo. I was hoping to get it over with and enjoy the evening. 
Here at Le Point Bascule there is plenty of activity at this moment. People wandering around, technicians getting the sound and lighting prepared, artists lounging in the big sofas. Artists looking for tape, a hammer, a bucket, Christine, Rochdy, or Tristian.  What a drag that I am performing last.  I will try to get over it.

29. September 2007
Théodor di Ricco






Another successful performance. I feel real really good. After waiting seven hours, I did my Disco is Church performance, but more on that later.
The very long evening of performance art at Le point Bascule. It started almost on time at 19:45.  There were many performance artists and some performers. When I arrived at 16:00, I was told that I would be the last. I pleaded to be the first but none of the Ornic'Art organizers could be budged to reschedule me.

There were too many performances to recount. What bothered me was the lack of concentration with respect to the performance artist. There were performances happening at the same time. I was torn between watching Natacha's sounds and Orion's equation. 

There were actions that, in my opinion, were definitely not performance art and I asked myself why they were in the program. 
Most of the public were respectful but there were long gaps where the space resembled a cocktail bar for singles.

I am glad to announce that Michael Jackson won this time.
Les Tas were unable to destroy the speaker with a bow and arrow when they did the third action in their series.

Maria Cosmes attached strings between her hand and that of a male participant.

Half Swiss did a beautiful performance. They are brothers and got naked and washed each other. Afterwards they hugged each other for a long time and served champagne. It was sincere and moving.  They managed to pull it off throughout the chaos of the evening.

I got to see a lot of dicks, at least four men got naked last night.



Jean-Christophe Petit

 

BBB Johannes Deimling

There might of been more naked men but I was unable to see every performance.  It was quite a mixture of performance art which I do not necessarily agree as a good way to present this art form.  The performances became decorative points throughout the evening. The public had little time to concentrate or digest what they experienced.

---

Now onto my performance. I entered the room, arranged the stools from the previous performance, walked in a circle saying 'Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Mohammed, Jews, Christian, Muslim, Bible, Torah, Koran, etc... I turned on a CD Player. I had recorded twenty of the best go-go dance music.  The first song was 'Ball of Confusion'.  Here I stretched. The second song 'Jesus in the Sky', I started to interact with the public trying to animate them to dance with me. It did not take long. Elsa was the first and quickly the whole room was full with dancing people.  After a couple more three minute songs, I stopped the CD and asked if they wanted more. They all agreed. A couple more songs I stopped the music and if they wanted more they would have to pay.  I took up a collection. I ended the performance abruptly by turning off the music and told everyone that the church was closed.
Time to go home. It would of worked differently if I had done this performance at the start of the evening.
It worked well however at the end when everyone was ready to move and shake their booty.
 

 

Everyone is allowed to make art but few dare. A simple and effective demonstration of a micro- Machiavellian political structure of control is installed in which the artist (prince) this time represented as a go-go dancer, is in the middle and the public (subjects), represented as attendants at an art event, are surrounding.
The artists sets an example how to live (make art).  The artist is at the center and can see everyone.  This advantage allows the artist to act as a regulator, for social change.  However, for this privilege the artist is trapped by the public‚s focus and must manipulate each side in order to remain in the center.
The public is shown how to live (make art).  They are content to follow the example of the artist, and are freed from the responsibility of having to live (make art) for themselves.
This micro Machiavellian political structure demonstrates a collective discipline on the part of the artist and the public on order to prevent a state in which everyone is living (making art or dancing for themselves), or in short, a state of anarchy.

In fact I was not the last performance on Friday night.
Elsa  Rignault was the last.
During the evening at Le Point Bascule. She spoke with people, took 
photos of them using her  "the bande signalitique" and collected 
their telephone numbers.  At the end of the evening, she  had a big 
list with telephone numbers and laid myself on the floor and begin 
to phone the people. She told hem that, she was wanted to do so 
because during the performance evening she did not have the chance 
to say good-bye.  She called them wishing them a good night and was 
happy to have met them. It was an beautiful  way to end the evening 
at the Le Point Bascule.