Surface Torture I-II

An improvised play of 2 hours duration inspired by the artwork of Hungarian performance artist Tibor Hajas. Thorne was invited to write the play by the Hungarian Cultural Centre for a Hajas exhibition at the Austin/Desmond Gallery, June 2017. The submission also includes only surviving footage from improvised scenes, documents of works displayed, and Thorne’s research/production notes.

The diverse elements of the performance were intended to investigate the ephemeral nature of much early performance art, in contrast with the material traces of Hajas’ work. Also to critically investigate the site specific nature of performance, photography, and the role of the spectator in completing the work of art. Walking through the exhibition, visitors became part of the theatrical settings, choosing freely how long to stay at a particular stage or move on to the next section in a promenade performance. Their participation is fragmentary, temporary and to some degree improvised, all but impossible to capture, a fact reflected in the fragmentary nature of the various elements of the submission: photographs, extracts from improvisations, a script, a narrative of research and so on. The production as ‘happening’ activates connections between the historical pieces and the contemporary spectator in the gallery via performance.