Orpheus, video documentation
Warren Arcand
September 11, 1993
Creative Access Description
Colour analogue video of a solo performance by a young Indigenous man with short black hair wearing a long black skirt and a patterned short sleeve button up shirt. As the performance opens, the man, blindfolded, is lead on stage by an assistant, who seats him in a chair and exits the stage. He sits still for a moment with his hands in his lap, then begins to casually sing a melody. He picks up a telephone from a table to his side and begins a conversation. He pulls the cloth blindfold up to hold his hair back like a headband. He finishes the conversation and hangs up the phone. He then speaks to the audience in a meta-performative nature. The camera pans back, showing that he is seated next to a large rectangular plywood box with a sloping front decorated with small pieces of wood attached in a geometric pattern with a humanoid figure in the centre, as well as a simple wooden swing hanging from above. He continues his monologue and a melancholy organ plays over a recording of a horse whinnying.Transitioning to the next stage of the performance, the audio fades and the man drags a step ladder from the edge of the stage into the spotlight. He climbs the ladder and sits on the swing. A playful Latin folk song plays and the assistant returns to the stage with a stick, poking and swatting at the man like a piñata, until something under his skirt appears to break and fall. The music cuts and the camera pans down to reveal what appears to be the broken pieces of a small watermelon on the floor. The man climbs off the swing and down the ladder, removing stray pieces of melon from his skirt. He picks up the phone again and has another conversation.
Hanging up, he puts on a pair of thick glasses, then crouches and retrieves a sandwich bag containing folded pieces of paper from the floor. He sits on the stage and removes the paper from the bag, unfolding it and reading lines written on it to the audience. A recording of various reverberating mechanical noises mixed with opera vocals plays. Finishing his readings, the recording stops. He delivers a few more lines before beginning to sing a love song. The stage lights shift red and the camera pans to a red dress hung on the opposite side of the stage. The dress appears to float across the stage as he continues to sing.
The stage darkens as he moves another ladder into position and climbs atop and then inside the plywood box. A recording of chirping birds and other animals in a jungle plays, while the camera focuses in on the box. From the wooden design on the box a red blood-like liquid begins to seep out and drip down the front of the structure, collecting in a small box at the bottom of the face. The camera zooms in and the bird sounds intensify. The lights drop and the recording stops. The man emerges from behind the box and bows, the audience applauds.
Description
Video documentation of Warren Arcand's performance Orpheus.Identifier
1993.0911 ORP V001Extent
1 Hi-8 tape, 00:18:14Tape Number
93-012Videographer
Jennifer AbbottArtist
Warren ArcandRelated program
Orpheus (Related)In copyright. For uses beyond Fair Dealing, research requests, corrections, takedown requests, or other inquiries, please contact grunt gallery: archives@grunt.ca