THANK YOU This performance was based upon the creation of an organic machine that connects a number of materials (milk, oil, mustard seed, glass, sculptures) with a number of physical bodies (the artist, the assistant, the participant). In this way, a series of intimate, repetitive actions and material tensions generated a circuit of energy. In turn, this circuit allowed for the transformation of the various discrete elements (materials, bodies, actions) into a singular organism.

In order to accomplish this, members of the public were invited to pour sump oil and milk (in that order) into my open, outstretched hands. Sewn through the skin of each hand was a small Buddha sculpture: on the right the emaciated, almost skeletal, black Buddha; on the left, the white ‘post-enlightened’ Buddha. The performance assistant would then guide the volunteer to take their position in front of me, at which point I would open my eyes and focus my attention momentarily only on them. Finally, I would bow slightly and say “thank you”. Soon this evolved into a situation where the participants would do the same.The assistant would then invite another member of the public to participate.

The performance was complete only once the milk and sump oil was finished.

Performance assistant: Douglas Ajitvar Kumar.

Production stills, THANK YOU 2011, Performance, Sump oil, milk, glass, mustard seeds. 14 February 2011.
Bodh Gaya, India