Process and Production evaluation - Ryan Murphy.
Following on from the last module I of self protection I wanted to look at self destruction for pleasure and improved mental health, specifically through a kink/BDSM lense. I originally planned for my final piece to be a display of the impact tools alongside a video of them in use in one of Glasgows underground few fetish events. Taking inspiration from artists such as Gareth Knight, Allen Jones and Arnulf Reiner I aimed to create art that was visually impactful outside of the relms of a purely kink lense.
During the process I realised that the videos that I had recorded would pose an issue as a few of the participants became uncomfortable with the idea that their face would be included in the final video, they are not out as a kinky individual and worried they may be recognised. From this point I started to produce a couple of different mummified (full body encasement in cling film and tape, fully restricting movement). The first being a straight bodied wrap that unfortunately was crushed while in transit to college. This resulted in a change of positions for the model as well as facturig in other materials to help add more internal structure to the figure. The second attempt (the one in the exhibition space) was much more successful, adding thick card stock to the initial wrap had the desired effect and allowed the tape to hold shape better.
Moving forward from the finished mummification in a seated position I elected to use a clothes rail. I used this to hold my personal kink gear, repurposing it to hold the impact tools that I had produced throughout this module. I feel that this layer of height and adding the bound humanesque figue below forces the audience to see the impact tools as more important than the actual figure itself. My hope is that people use the tools to inflict imaginary pain on the figure and to document their emotional responses to the expierinece. I have given the figure the ability to consent to the expierience as I was the model for it. Does consent from an insnimate object affect a participant's willingness to let go and cause damage to it?
I was inspired by both Allen Jones and Gareth Knight as their work centers around kink and BDSM practices. Jones' use of cast figures in his body of work did help in deciding how to construct my final mummification position. By keeping the figure on its knees, similar to Jones' piece ‘Table’, it allowed for a more structurally secure version of the position. Gareth Knight also utilises natural materials (rocks and untreated hemp rope) in his large scale shibari exhibition/performance pieces which influenced my decician to incorporate the roses as the pain inflicting tool.
Once the figure was formed and the tools completed I had time to evaluate the process in its entirety. It had many faults and disruptions due to unforeseen circumstances, for example people revoking their consent, which is absolutely not a problem, and some of the components being too fragile to travel without breaking.
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