Plucked

Description

What happens when an audience is invited to do whatever they want to a body on stage? Could you stand by and watch or would your dark desires take over? I'm interested in using the story of the crucifixion as inspiration for a piece of performance art gone wrong. The film will take place in a hipster gallery, the audience middle / upperclass patrons; art enthusiastics in turtle necks and statement glasses. The performer is a woman who is cover in feathers, she sits on a plinth. The audience are invited to do whatever they want to the performer. The performance slowly but surely descends into chaos. Mob mentality means the woman is plucked, feather by feather until she is left naked and bleeding on the stage. The audience leave, unsure what happened to them, and why they acted in this way. I'm inspired by films like The Square and Climax and artists like Ron Athey, Marina Abramovic and Kira O'Reilly.

Biblical Connection

I'd like to use the crucifixion of Jesus as inspiration for this piece (Mark 15: 21–41, John 19:20, Matthew 27:32-56, Luke 23:26-43). I'm interested in how we could use these passages from the four gospels and The Stations of The Cross to create moments in the film for example; who is the Mary Magdalene in the audience? What is she doing? How could we use The Stations of The Cross to influence our structure and journey of the performance. I'm interested in using the Jesus's last words as the only words that our performer says to the audience - “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”. I want to read about those who witnessed the crucifixion or caused it and how mob mentality works.