The intestines of the mountain

“If we build factories within the intestines of the mountain that pump out black smoke and we tell them that it is just steam, they will know.”

With a skateboard tied to their back, the artist struggles through a 70 metre long zip connected as the intestine of their installation of a living mountain made from two tonnes of fabric scraps. They sing nursery rhymes about eating flies and reflect on how it feels to be the gut flora of Planet Earth. Arriving back at the fabric mountain, they transform into a creature with a bulging mouth full of freshly picked wild medlar fruits which are plucked out and shared with all gallery visitors.

Performance produced on the occasion of the opening of the ‘Arte al Centro‘ Exhibition at Fondazione Pistoletto Cittadellarte, Biella, Italy, June 2023. Informed by work as artist-in-residence on the Circulart 3.0 project of Fashion B.E.S.T..

Video: Alejandro Chellet. Photos: Chris Fairless.