Our piece was to explore the relationship between the Feeder/Gainer fetish within modern society and how people are influenced by food. Not only did we explore the relationship between Feeder and Gainer we explored much more than this when performing our piece to an audience.
From the start of this process we have had a very personal approach to this experimental performance, experiencing physical and mental elements through the use of food. Personally, I associate food as a social and enjoyable thing to do, ‘food and eating are central to our subjectivity.’ Lupton (1996 pg1) however pushing the boundaries within our piece it opens up a variety of different assumptions and opinions on our piece, making it controversial. This makes it an experience in which we are not comfortable in, pushing the limits of our bodies and emotional intelligence within this performative task.
Not only are we exploring the relationship between foods but we are doing something that isn’t necessary seemed conventional for us, this relates to proportion sizes and the mixing of food and the views on our westernised society. We see food as a luxury which is something very similar to the feeder fetish, however we control our quantities and what we seem as ‘normal’ to mix certain foods together, but because we are pushing the boundaries of high calorific foods we mixed certain foods such as curry and cream together, this was a recurring process throughout the performative task, including sweet and savoury snacks etc. Another angle of this performance you could this experiment from was from a feminist approach, due to us all being the same sex, it has certain elements of politics and how women should/could be perceived, which is something we could have potentially explored further.
The start of our experimental performance the table is neatly spread, with velvet table cloth, food spread evenly on the table, it was hot and the smells over powered the room, giving familiar scents for our audience to become indulged with pleasurable scents.
(Layout of the Food. Taken by Jessica Jarvis: 11.12.13)
The structure of our set was for the audience to become aware of other audience members, for them to watch other people’s responses and watch the Feeders and Gainers, this is because watching someone else’s reaction can be just as interesting as to what is going on in front of them. Mary Douglas (anthropologist) states food ‘is a ritual activity’ Lupton (1996 pg9) which again highlights the structure of our set, which created a social atmosphere for people to analyse one another and our actions, from a young age we associate food being a social concept, from mother feeding her child, to childhood parties and onwards.
The control and power is in the behold of the Feeder, we got to choose what the Gainer would eat, personally I did feel pressure to pick hot food firsts this was due to the smells, I then thought about the mixing of cream with this particular dish. Then I thought I would mix it up a little bit and go for the sweet dishes, I thought I was actually being nice, seeing my Gainer enjoying the food made me feel relaxed and at ease. Later on in the experiment, I heard wrenching and my control started to go a little, I wanted to see who it was behind me, knowing that one Gainer was being sick was testing my emotional intelligence completely, I could feel my control slipping. The smell over powered the room and I was nearly sick myself, I just wanted to say something, to see if everything was ok. Then I finally got some control back and I was mentally encouraging my Gainer, making sure that she wasn’t going to be sick, this proven to be difficult, as before you knew it I was walking to fetch a sick bag, pushing my Gainer this far, I could only think of one thing to resolve this… water! Water was going to help my Gainer. But because I already created a emotional attachment to the curry I went back to that particular dish. When I knew my Gainer was feeling sick from this, I went back for more. The words in my head screamed, why? I knew at this point my Gainer is going to be sick, having forced my Gainer to eat this, I kept getting other pieces on my folk and hovering it front of her mouth. Control is something I do not like, this role tests your emotional intelligence completely, and the task was to keep going until the 2 hours is up. I had to complete it. Once we were stopped for ethical reasons by our lecturer, 1 hour and 40 minutes, a huge sigh and relief came from my body and I couldn’t control my emotions and I just cried to my Gainer. It was a horrible experience to witness and be involved in and it tested my control, patience and emotional abilities and without a doubt the most challenging performance/task I have been involved in. Although we did not explore the relationship between Feeder and Gainer sexually, we experimented with the control of food and the relationships we get from food.
The image below is a picture of me (Feeder) and Kirsty Jakins (Gainer) before the performative experiment. The use of having the hand on the shoulder suggest power and control.
(Feeder and Gainer Partner One. Taken by Kirsty Taylor : 11.12.13)
This experiment has helped me understand the levels of performance within the body and mind, our experimental has allowed me to think beyond the Feeder/Gainer frame and understand that a performance can be pushed beyond the traditional elements of theatre, for it to become ‘ a distinct place in contemporary arts practice and has a history of exceeding traditional theatrical boundaries.’. (Govan, Nicolson and Normington, 2007, pg3)
When we first developed this idea of Feeder/Gainer, I questioned whether it was a
performance, who is the performer? Can food be seen as a performance? However I found this quote which underlines and gives an overall statement, that our experiment was indeed a performance.
‘Performing is an interaction between mind and body, and between the private mind (individual) and the public mind at large (arena). As a psychological process, it makes bridges between one kind of thought and another (in the case music, through sound) and between different people’s ideas and experiences. As in all human relationships, a number of emotions come into play (e.g. like, dislike, love, hate, respect, depend, dominate, sympathize, etc.). Its aim is not necessary to express unconscious thoughts (though they may well play a part ) but certainly to connect different levels of mind.’ Gibson (2001, pg 14)
Works cited
Lupton. D. (1996) Food, the Body and the self . London, SAGE publications ltd.
Govan. E, Nicolson. H, Normington.K (2007) Making a performance devising histories and contemporary practices.
Gibson. B (2001) Performing matters. Heinemann: Oxford