Having looked into the concept of the audience picking out foods for us to try, we began to think about the idea of having no control. This then sparked a few thoughts about ‘feederism’. It seems this sexual fetish is all about one person having control over another, as you can see in the video below.
Within the sexual fetish it is often ‘the man preparing food and caring for the woman’ (Richardson, 2010, p.113.), but is this really care? As an all-female group it seems we all strive to look a certain way, and the idea of putting on weight would completely take away how confident we feel about ourselves sexually. Therefore, for our performance we began to question whether it would make sense for us to be dressed provocatively, or whether we should be dressed as ourselves as personally we would not find anything sexual about the experience at all. Also, during a day our bodies will not realistically show much change so instead it would be more testing how we handle loss of control over something so personal.
The idea of being fed and having no control for us seems daunting and not knowing what has been put into the calorific meals that have been created. If for our performance we decide last minute who will become the ‘feeders’ and who will be fed, this will ensure even more loss of control and test ourselves. We are looking at having the three chosen feeders to cook calorific meals the night before. The entire process will be filmed so audiences will be able to see what has been put into the food that the other group members will be consuming. If the film is silent and the people being fed have their back to the projection, they will yet again be giving complete control to their feeder.
‘Digital media is wonderful because it can be endlessly duplicated and/or presented without fear of the tiniest change or degradation. But, it is this very quality that is antithetical to the fluid and ever changing nature of live performance’ (Carder and Beardon, 2004)
With our piece, however, the idea of changing performance will only be strengthened. As time goes on and more food is consumed, the film showing what has been put into the food will become more grotesque for audiences as they can see how the quantity is affecting the gainers. Time is another crucial element with this piece. How far do you take it? We have been considering either keeping the feeding process going until all the food has been demolished, or continuing the experiment until the person can literally consume no more. If this is the case it may make for a more interesting piece as depending on who randomly gets chosen to be fed, different reactions and different amounts of consumption will occur. It seems this experiment will be more about pushing ourselves and testing our own limits. The feeders will have to deal with potentially pushing someone else too far, where as those being fed will have to push past personal boundaries of how they feel about their bodies and how much they can consume. In the video below we began to practise giving up control with a few foods we enjoy. As our experiments continue, we will slowly build up the intensity of giving over control.
Works Cited
Carver, G. and Beardon, C. (2005) New Visions in Performance: The Impact of Digital Technologies. Lisse: Tayler and Francis e-Library.
Richardson, N. (2010) Transgressive Bodies: Representations in Film and Popular Culture. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Limited.