Ten performance clichés
Performance

Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea (CGAC)
Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
Photographs: Alba Blanco
December 3, 2016

The performance kicks off with a nod to Ulay and Marina Abramovic ‘s well-known action, Imponderabila, where attendees enter the space one by one through an almost closed door. In our case, upon entering, each person is handed a black card bearing the title of the proposal: 10 Clichés of Performance. Once inside, I distribute ten cards one by one. On each of these cards, there is a sentence that refers to a formal or conceptual strategy of performance that, due to overuse, has become a cliché. The mechanics of the performance are always the same: after handing out a card, its content is parodied through a small action. This is the list of clichés: 1. Cultivating tension, 2. Seeking the absurd, 3. Breaking, destroying, burning, 4. Transmitting energy, 5. Self-harming, 6. Executing mechanical acts obsessively, 7. Emitting unsettling sounds, 8. Ingesting-expelling, 9. Decontextualizing the object, and 10. Undressing. To conclude it, we request your cooperation. If you feel like it, undress and remain in this state for as long as you consider appropriate. If no one undresses within three minutes, this performance will be considered concluded. Thank you in advance for your collaboration.

The performance concludes with the distribution of the tenth card, which, as you can read, places the audience in a real predicament, opening the door to an uncertain but truly performative ending.