VERSE, 2023

VERSE

Perpetual actions of vain hope drive the durational live performance VERSE. A passage in an anthem, a verse articulates one part of a greater whole. The poem 'Go to the limits of your longing' by German poet Rilke, is arranged here in responsorial format; I con/verse/ with Rilke. I tra/verse/ space. I re/verse/ memory. Repetitious circumambulation (the act of walking around a sacred object) and spoken word enact the idea that textual recall, combined with action, can revise emotional associations to memory; reminding us, in Rilke’s words: no feeling is final.

As a child, I vainly hoped to reclaim my Father’s favouritism when he dedicated himself to Religion. Despite knowing I was not religious, I performed diligently as if I was. In an ongoing series of performances titled HOPE DIES LAST (the first, Witness, 2022) I re-examine the religious actions I performed then, considering how they imposed a self-contradictory barrier to regaining the love I perceived lost.

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6 Hour durational Performance

Sculptural relics: Sizes varied, MDF, fixings, Resin, Wax.

VERSE was presented by Post Office Projects as part of their 2023 Performance Series at Adelaide contemporary Experimental (ACE), Adelaide August 1st 2023.

This work wouldn't be possible without collaborators Joseph James Francis who created a live ambient composition for the duration of 6 hours, accompanied by Sonya Mellor on Cello. Daniel Gibson and Kristy Johnson = were integral to the making of the sculptural elements and sound of this work.

VERSE was developed within and will be performed on Kaurna country. I acknowledge the elders, past present and emerging; as well as the waters, land and the history of art making that has occurred here for thousands of years. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

Photographed by Thomas McCammon.