Escape


Procedure
I am locked in the restroom, which was used during the whole festival as an active installation.
In this “public restroom,” I performed very intimate actions together with other participants such as: taking a shower, going to toilet, shaving legs and armpits and epilating genital zones.
 
For the performance “escape,” the restroom (a cage) does not have a door. Being locked inside I prepare my escape. Important things like money, my mobile phone, a toothbrush, a color marker and my identity card are packed in small plastic bags, which I fill with air and tie them to my body. Then I cut myself out of the grid, put the toilet in the bathtub and pull the bathtub to the quai.
There, some people help me lower the bathtub to the sea. I put on a life vest and climb into the bathtub. Parts of the toilet are used as paddles. The bathtub slowly fills with water. It stays boyed at the surface quite a long time until it sinks. The toilet drifts out to the open sea and I swim back to the quai. Back in the restroom I have a shower and get dressed.  None of my properties was lost.
 
Concept
After being watched by a large public audience while doing intimate tasks for a whole week, my distinct desire is to escape the situation. It makes me feel mostly insecure to forsake certain conventions of life even if they are unpleasant--just because I got used to them. So I try to make my escape insecure in the instance of the bathtub, because I don't know if a metal bathtub will float.
At least the life vest secures my survival.
 
Intentionally letting go of what is/was important to me, I decide to take just a few things like my mobile and money with me even though I know I will end up in the water. Nevertheless, I try to take some safety precautions to lessen the tension.
 
I understand that most changes which we make in life entail courage and risk on the one hand and safety precautions on the other. Ofcourse I refer with this performance to the situation of refugees, but as I am not living in a life threatening situation, I create a situation with my personal risks and motivations.
 
Finally, while I am on my way paddling in the bathtub on the sea or even while floating in my life vest in the water, I feel relief and freedom.

September 2016
préavis de désordre urbain 10
redplexus,festival international de performance
Marseille, France

Pics: Peter Baren, Elea Terrode, Franck Martinet, Dji Ani