Bob Flanagan
(December 27, 1952-January 4, 1996)
Super masochist song (undated)
Bob Flanagan was born on December 26th 1952 and died on 4th January 1996. Not only was he an outstanding comic and musician, it was sickness and suffering that made him most famous. The band member used performance art to give insight to his ongoing suffering of Cystic Fibrosis. This particular piece I have included in my exhibition is a performance of Flanagan singing the well known Disney song, Supercalifragilisticexpialidociouschanging from Mary Poppins. On stage in front of a huge audience he changed the words relating to his illness and interest of super masochist. His wheezing and coughing as he narrated his life brought a sad tone to the performance, yet couldn’t help admire his bravery, and ability to perform even when in pain.
He seems content with mocking himself in this piece, yet watching it makes me feel almost uncomfortable at the fact that the audience are laughing more at him than as a nervous response to his bluntness about the certainty of death. His final years made an award winning film, SICK the life and death of Bob Flanagan, super masochist (1997) directed by Kirby Dick.
Bobby Baker
Diary Drawings
Mental illness and me 1997-2008
Bobby Baker first started drawing these pieces at the beginning of her treatment at a day centre for depression. The drawings were first personal and kept private however she then used them as tool to communicate her feelings to doctors, family and friends which were difficult to explain. The exhibition consists of 158 works, selected from 711 made to date and is the first time that she has shared her works with a wider audience, beginning its tour at Wellcome Collection in March 2009. The drawings cover her experiences of day hospitals and psychiatric meetings she under took.
The drawings capture a personal and troublesome time in the artists life. In reflection some have said that some of the drawings are childlike. Yet it is clear that when looking carefully at the pictures, serious, sad and emotive images fill the canvas, giving insight into just how it might feel to suffer from a mental illness or depression.
Marina Abramovic, Balkan Baroque 1997
Balkan Baroque is described as a visually stunning piece, where the body is physically and mentally stretched it limits. Marina Abramovic, one of the most famous performance artists currently working in the live art movement creates a moving durational performance incorporating new media and live performance. In this particular piece Abromovic sits amongst a pile of thousands of bloodied beef bones, she sits and scrubs the flesh of the bones for five days, six hours a day. She sings songs she remembered from her childhood, narrating a personal history of her family alongside the story of the civil war in her homeland of Yugoslavia Marina
“Balkan Baroque is a work about wars and deep shame caused by the killing. It is not specifically located in the Balkans. It could be placed anytime anywhere”. Marina Abramovic. Page 142. Hoffmann J and Jonas J. Perform 2005 Thames & Hudson
Non Terri O’ Connor Directed piece
To be performed live on opening night of exhibition start time 7pm.
