4.3.1982

New York, Franklin Furnace

This performance is conceived as a reaction to an abandoned idea. The original design was to have art critics take shots at the artist, as Russian roulette, with only one gun with one bullet. The organiser vetoed the idea however.

 

'New York isn't good for me.
I get too many impressions, too many ideas
and consequently too much energy.
I want to promise myself not to do any drawings
for the next three days and not to write either.
The only thing I'm allowed to do tomorrow is
design and make a sort of mask / muzzle in leather
(as if for a dangerous dog). It's meant to stop me
eating and seeing. So I can fast, both physically
and visually, and withdraw into my imagination.
As a sort of preparation for my performance
'It is Kill or Cure', which I'm going to do at Franklin
Furnace (the last true artistic santuary in
Manhattan. With the fantastic Martha Wilson
who keeps the business running).'

(Jan Fabre, New York, 7 February 1982)

'I'm too agitated.
I change my ideas every day.
What actions will I carry out during
my performance 'It is Kill or Cure'?
I have to give a place to my dark side.
And realise that ecstasy can't be invented.
The action of the ecstasy is turned completely
in on itself.
So it's a matter of creating at the moment itself.
Improvising and surviving.'

(Jan Fabre, New York, 27 February 1982)