Image: The Visceral Garden, HD production still 2013, courtesy the artist and chalk horse.
Body Fluid II (redux) is a performance and video installation in which the artist presents the monotony of his daily dialysis treatment as a sublime act of self-transformation. From Thursday to Sunday, Douglas will perform a ten-hour movement score while undertaking peritoneal dialysis, offering visitors an opportunity to reflect on their mortality and to experience the exhibition space as a place for healing and quiet contemplation. The performance is flanked by figurative video landscapes, where his imaginary golden figure references the visual motifs of Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and elements of Russian mysticism found in the cinema of Andrej Tarkovsky.
In new work The Visceral Garden, Douglas uses macro photography of specimens at the Museum of Human Disease, UNSW for an ontological investigation of his illness that takes us on a descent into the underworld.
Movement Coach: Sue Healey
Additional Soundscapes: Naomi Oliver and Heath Franco
Collaborative Performer: Naomi Oliver
Presented and commissioned by Performance Space.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. John A Douglas has been supported by a residency at the School of Art and Media, University of UNSW through partnership with Performance Space, and residency at the School of Human Disease UNSW. John A Douglas is represented by Chalk Horse, Sydney.
