Venom - 2003

performance art piece dealing with issues of war and gender, performed in May 2003, during Gulf War II.

The piece is intended as neither an indictment nor a paean to the Bush administrations, though some have interpreted it as such.

Note: Taken out of the performance context, the first three minutes are rather slow. Feel free to skip forward to the purple question mark if you wish

created with choreographer Miguel Rojas

Music:
First movement: Boards of Canada, Julie and Candy from Geogaddi.
Second movement: Chuck D. Vs. Ticc-tacc (Featuring Ambersunshower), War from MTV's Amp 2

Primary text:

As our world teeters on the brink of peace,
divided by the train wreck of cultures colliding,
it is easy to place blame on those charged with the execution of conflict
They are merely the tip of a sword,
thrust into battle by the inexorable crush of society in flux, the inevitability of history

War is, simply, one way the world reinvents itself

the catalyst that provokes ever-greater engines of destruction is the complicit agreement between boys to settle their differences with testosterone-fueled rage

all the while, women bear the repercussions of squabbles between boys,
they nurse the wounded from within their corsets and burqas,
rebuild homes and families so their sons can destroy them anew

There may still, perhaps always, in the course of human events,
be a need for war, though we can imagine otherwise

you are here

the time is now