Alternative Media Group

FIONA MCGREGOR’S WATER SERIES

Author:

Kate Britton

Posted:

Monday, 7 November 2011

Love it, loathe it, or think it’s just plain crazy, there’s something about durational performance art that seldom fails to get people talking. The intensity of the performance, which often sees an artist pushing the limits of what their body can endure, immediately heightens the sense of challenge for an audience, as we grapple to come to terms with the experience the performer is undertaking. Artspace have long been committed to supporting endurance work, and November sees them opening a season of exhibitions from artists that utilise endurance in their practice. To open the season, acclaimed Australia artist and writer Fiona McGregor will perform her Water Series, three performance works that explore our relationship with water, its centrality to our lives and increasing scarcity, particularly in Australia. McGregor has long been fascinated by water, and the latest in her series of works to investigate it are some of the most confronting. Water #1, performed last week, saw McGregor spend 24 hours in the gallery, covered in salt, as rainwater equivalent to her body weight dripped onto her forehead. In Water #2, she will appear coiled in tubing, as one line introduces saline into her body, and another drawing blood. Water #2 will conclude with the artist having her back tattooed with water, enduring the experience without the permanency of ink. Water #3, the final piece, beginning on November 15th and continuing for 24 hours, sees the artist consuming a large volume to water to produce urine that will activate a small fountain. Captivating, challenging, and visceral, McGregor’s Water Series is a landmark of endurance performance in the Australian scene, and certainly won’t fail to get people talking. Water Series will feature an artist talk on Thursday, Nov 17th, 5pm.

Until Nov 20, Artspace, 43-51 Cowper Wharf Rd, Woolloomooloo, 9356 0555, artspace.org.au

Tidal Walk, 2009, image from endurance performance, Bondi beach, Sydney. Photo by Tereasa Trevor

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