Solo Performance at Burning Life!

Wirxli Flimflam's performance "Clearance-Cut: Self-Exorcism to relieve the collective guilt of The Purple (Wo)Man [especially those who are blue in the face]".
September 28th, 2007 for the Burning Life Festival on Odyssey Island.
Videography by Evo Szuyuan.
If you cannot see this embedded video, please click here for the direct YouTube link.

Hey there performance art censors, burning lifers and Lindenpolooza SLam Dancers!

Before I begin my blurb, I would like to give special thanks to Evo Szuyuan for offering to produce this edited machinima document for me at the last minute....zillions of thanks, Evo! :-)

Phew! I am still reeling from my recent solo performance at the Linden sponsored Burning Life festival on Odyssey Island.

I must say that I am really exhausted from venting out almost all of my ancestral guilt at those poor tourist-ready totem poles... Well, I was actually venting more blood and anger towards myself since it was about guilt after all. I mean, as any ol' Europeanized SLemale will know full well... the best way to abuse others is also to abuse yourself twice as much and geez, did I get a full chainsaw lasceration! YUCK!

For the record, I just want to clarify that I am NOT Anti-Aboriginal or anything like that...quite the contrary actually. If one pays close attention to the title, I think my position on the subject will be clear...

I am referencing the violence of cultural clearcuts and if you look closely, I am actually punishing myself over my ancestral guilt (yes, the colonial excesses of the Purple [Wo]Man) and honoring my ancestors in the purist of ways - going on a complete hyperliberal murder-suicide rage with a chainsaw...ok? I only pushed over some of the smaller totem poles to show how touristy and artificial they were. Ok, now that is off my chest (the guilt and the chainsaw wounds are still on my chest though), I hope you will feel the visceral and emotional force of my performance.

That day also happened to be the official Burma Protest day in SL so I wore the red-shirt designed (I think) by my orchestral colleague, Junivers Stockholm. Yes, I know that I am mixing up political messages here but it was simply coincidence that I was dealing with two very polemical issues at once..honestly. I guess you could summarize by saying that my position on the whole matter is no so clear-cut...heheheheh.

Ok, now that you have watched the above video, here is a chance for me to give you a sneak preview of the performance's history...

Here is the only pic I took of this performance and it was not even taken on performance day. If anyone who attended my performance has any additional photos, please send them to me and I will blog it. This action shot is actually the sole documentation from my rehearsal the day before which actually barely happened due to poor me hustling and scrambling to find extra totem poles and a self-mutilating chainsaw at the last minute.... You can read all about it below...

***BREAKING NEWS FROM THE NEAR FUTURE - NEW PHOTO PROVIDED BY MIULEW TAKAHE...

AND NOW...

...THE MAKING OF CLEARANCE CUT...

Well, this performance piece has been in the works for quite a few months now.
I do not have any photodocumentation of my most recent totem pole shopping fiasco but I will tell you about it quickly before I show you the rest of my photos from a much earlier time in ancient pre-history (relatively speaking)...

Basically, I forgot to buy the rest of the totem poles that I needed to perform and then I had to scramble some more at the last minute as well as a working (well, actually a stihl-ish "glitchy") chainsaw...sigh!.

Originally, I was going to perform at my Second Front colleague Great Escape's Stone Pike location but at the time, I felt that I need more poles than the one species I bought from Gwynnyth Charming. So, I only bought one pole then and I should have stocked up on more of them to prepare much earlier for the growth of my totem pole forest. Turns out, Gwynnth's store was "closed" due to some Linden-side server teleportation issues a couple of days ago so that freaked me right out of my tree when I realized I wanted to buy 9 more poles of her design!

Anyways, Gwynnyth contacted me directly and helped me buy the rest. Meanwhile, I scouted for smaller totem poles that were obviously more two-dimensional and therefore, perfect for acting as the feeble interior-decoration facades they were intended to be.

While shopping for additional poles, Bibbe Oh and Cleo Hultcrantz from the Third Rail Gallery of Current Art came to my rescue and donated enough L$ to purchase all the poles I needed...phew!

All this was happening while trying to find a functional self-mutilating chainsaw. With the help of Sugar Seville, Gazira Babeli and my romantic partner, Tea Chenille, we were able to secure a suitable one.
Warm thanks to all of you as well! :-)

Anyways, here are some photos of my first totem pole shopping excursion on Notata Falls - the same place where iHeart Kuri plans to perform...

For some reason, I did not see this lovely tall totem pole for sale. By perching on its wings, you get a great aerial view of Notata Falls but I guess it would have been too tall for Evo (my videographer) to crop in all the performance angles...

Ok, maybe it was not so tall in retrospect but by zooming out, the Falls and the surrounding encampment looked rather sublime! I know, I know! I am a Romantic at heart! Sigh!

Now THIS was the totem pole I really wanted but all I saw was the smaller version for sale...sigh! I must admit that I also had a brief shopping spree at the local gift shop but I will not disclose what I plundered...er... "re-re-patriated" ;-)

If I remember correctly, I swore I saw some cyberpowwow dancers dancing on that field below. I wonder where they disappeared to?