The ex-Philly BOBOs turned up in an email from Zach Feuer Gallery (NY) about an exhibit that involves a blood drive. In the gallery.
The blood drive is part of an exhibition curated by Kate Levant that opened yesterday and will run to Sept. 4. It looks like Levant also has work in the show.
The email promises the show will include contributions by Levant’s artist friends. They include the BOBOs as well as Noel Anderson, Brian Faucette, Michael E. Smith, Elaine Stocki and Jacques Vidal.
It’s a little murky if the contributions are art or blood, to tell you the truth.
But we’re picturing blood donors being watched by gallery-goers. Drip, drip.
The artist wrote a sort of rant/artists statement/poem about curatorial intent and about the blood drive. Here’s the first half of the blood drive segment:
BLOOD DRIVE
I WANT TO SITUATE A MOMENT TO PARTICIPATE IN A PHYSICALITY THAT IS ULTIMATELY PERSONAL :
BUT THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE IDENTIFICATION THROUGH ANY SOCIALLY INFORMED PERCEPTION :
PERSON:AL : AS IN : THE BASIC PHYSICAL BIOLOGY THAT MAKES US : HUMAN :
I WANT TO INITIATE AN EXPERIENCE .. AT A PACE .. OF A PULSE ..
THE PACE OF . THE PULSE OF . YOUR BLOOD THROUGH YOUR BODY .
OR CONVERSELY : RATHER : YOUR BLOOD : OUT OF YOUR BODY :
IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION.
I AM HOSTING THE NEW YORK BLOOD CENTER :: TO CONDUCT A BLOOD DRIVE : TO DO WHAT THEY DO : TO DRAW APPROXIMATELY 450-500 MILLILITERS OF WHOLE BLOOD FROM EACH DONOR : AND TAKE IT BACK TO THE BANK : STERILE-SEALED IN PLASIC : TO THEN MATCH IT TO : THE TRANSFUSABLE USE OF SOME OTHER HUMAN : IN NEED :
UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES I INTEND TO DESIGNATE : HOWEVER :
THE BLOOD DRIVE WILL FACILITATE AN EXPERIENCE FOR THE DONOR
IT WILL ALL FUNCTION AS A SORT OF STAGE-SET-MECHANISM :
SITUATING THE DONOR / / PARTICIPANT IN THE POSITION OF ‘SAFE’ PASSIVITY :
“LETING” THIS EXPERIENCE PASS THROUGH HIS / HER ‘COROPREALITY’
I HOPE TO INSTIGATE THIS DEFERRED COMPREHENSION :
AWARENESS : AND OWNERSHIP OF THE DONORS’ BODILY COMPOSURE :
AND THE TENSION OF BOUNDARIES BETWEEN THE INTERIOR AND THE EXTERIOR DIMENSIONS OF THE HUMAN FORM.
You can read the whole statement on the gallery website.The show is up from yesterday to Sept 4. The blood drive is Sept. 2 and 3 in the gallery.
