Action: The audience enters a space to face the artist standing still with his back on the wall, wearing a white turtleneck shirt raised upwards in order to cover his mouth. Allowing for the viewers to settle into the space, the artist moves out of stillness and reaches for a fishing line reel that is attached onto the wall next to him. By giving the reel to the closest viewer, he then threads the fishing line through three circular hooks nailed onto the walls, whilst the viewer allows for the reel to circulate in his hands. After connecting the three hooks, the artist ties the fishing line onto the first one and takes the reel from the viewer’s hands, initiating a process of connecting all audience members by placing the fishing line into their hands. Once the reel is in the hands of the last viewer, in order of placement within the space, the artist returns to the first hook, lowers his turtle neck and slowly reveals a piece of black yarn coming out of his mouth. He then ties the black yarn with the fishing line through the first hook and turns to the wall, resting his face onto it. Audience members begin to pull onto the fishing line connecting them all together, forcing the black yarn out of the artist’s mouth and forming a straight line of almost ten meters, that stretches through the circular hooks across two adjacent walls. Once the black yarn has reached the last hook, the artist disconnects it from the fishing line with a pair of scissors, tying its two ends on the first and last hook, before exiting the space.
Lastwords
Performance / Part of poetry event "Black dogs" curated by Daphne Nikita / Diatopos Centre for Contemporary Art / Nicosia - CY / January - 2017 / Duration: 25'
Material: artist’s body, fishing line, scissors, circular hooks, black yarn, audience members
Photo: Christos Avraamides