JOAN MOREY
POSTMORTEM.  †Panel 7, «Pour en finir avec le jugement de Dieu». Joan Morey (2007)

Taking as a starting point the thought and certain patterns of behaviour of the Cynic philosophers, in somewhat distorted form, and the spoken words of Antonin Artaud, various actions are performed in a correlative or simultaneous fashion inside the immense coffin that serves the artist as set/soundstage. Its interior, closed and lit, is the site of a situation of discomfort for the spectators, who are admitted to the Panel only after making a prior appointment, confirming their attendance in advance and conforming to a strict dress code. These spectators are led in one by one to occupy the space and are arranged in two rows, those in the first row seated and those in the second standing, by order of admission. Placed on each seat is the graphic piece ‘L’esclavemaître’, printed on ‘Wet’ Curious Touch Antarctic 120 gram Arjowiggins paper). In the foreground a model|slave in the role of a submissive waitress serves the spectators Ruinart 'R' French champagne at a temperature of 7º in Bohemian crystal goblets; the impassive attitude of the slave|servant is part of the fetishist aesthetic imposed by the artist (‘punishment’ stiletto heels, high-waisted black rubber skirt with a zip at the back that makes walking difficult, black Fred Perry polo shirt, short lubricated latex gloves, the upper part of her face made up in a neutral natural tone and the lower part from the corners of the lips in matt black; French-cut dyed jet black hair). Meanwhile, two models|slaves are on all fours before another model|serf who kneels in front of them. The model|serf holds the microphones and scripts, and the models|slaves read out (in Catalan translation) the last words that Antonin Artaud wrote immediately prior to being confined in a succession of insane asylums, subsequently published as Les nouvelles révélations de l'être. The models|slaves give a dramatized reading of these words, articulated in 4 blocks and from 4 choreographic figures previously marked out by the artist; the form of the text, so prophetic as to seem almost a sentence, indicates how Artaud condemned himself to a ‘separation’, accepting his absolute rejection by bourgeois society and closing himself up in madness. Afterwards he will be the Resurrected. A fragment of the sound piece Pour en Finir avec le Jugement de Dieu (from which this Panel takes its title) that Artaud created for Radio France is heard in unison. The piece was recorded in 1947, but the director of Radio France refused to broadcast it. The sound comes from a pair of Bose speakers mounted on a leather and astrakhan harness on the back of a ballerina|slave. This personage, situated at the back of the image, walks around the space structuring a series of choreographic movements marked out by the artist and subject to the rhythm of the litanies issuing from her back. The aesthetic of the ballerina|slave takes as its reference the zentai (as a sexual fetish associated with the use of latex, lycra or other skin-tight materials that cover the body from head to toe) and its ideology, in which the loss of human features serves to blur the identity, emphasized by a wholly subordinate conduct (to this end she wears a complete bodysuit of black lace accompanied by an opaque mask and a wig of human hair). This slave|bitch remains on a perimeter delimited by the length of the cables that connect the speakers and maintains her canine attitude at all times. The artist, in the background, is seen recording the actions on video and adopts the role of author|producer. As a result, he continually interrupts the development of the action, shattering the evolving atmosphere of the situation and evidencing the fact that the spectator has been metaphorically ‘enslaved’ as a scenographic accompaniment to the project.

(Documentary photograph by Noemi Jariod)