Page 45 - Studio International - November 1971

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simultaneously with two cameras. I was in symbolic human form, was being subjected to
concerned with turning the face into raw and shaped by the linearity of the intestinal
material, like plastic, then creating an external tract. I would eat one, and then another, and
situation that was going to change the face, the then the other, suggesting some process for
way it looked. You could say I wanted to alter stacking one on top of the other.
it by forcing it to express the sensation of fear. ws: Maybe we could end with some of your
ws: You had a video camera trained on your latest projects.
face while a person from a couple of stories up DO : At the moment I'm preparing two pieces.
threw rocks at your body ? One is an electron microscope with an attached
DO : They threw rocks from the circumference video projector which will show a live specimen
of a circle with a five foot radius at the centre of that I will produce internally.
which I was standing. I wanted the circle to ws: You are getting deeper and deeper into
demarcate the range of aim. The effect of the your body.
rocks being thrown would then register on my Do : Well, it's one project that works on the 24
face. It would express the anticipation of real cellular level, like the X-rays of my stomach.
hazard. Of course, it was windy and cold The concerns sort of overlap and I tend to go
outside, and my face recorded that too, but back to things and revive ideas that push one
essentially I was captive to the stimulus which ahead.
flowed right through me to the face. ws : What's the other piece ?
ws : You said it wasn't completely successful no : I'm using 35mm cameras with motor drive
because you didn't continue it for very long. to document very closely certain facial
DO : I stopped short. I began to raise objections transactions with my daughter. I've been doing
to an artist placing himself in this position. The this for some time now. The stills are put into
risk was too great. I'm glad I did it for a short oversized carousels and synched with sound. I
while, but the commitment was too great. An have the equipment to programme the way the
artist does not live in a vacuum. I didn't want slides go through the carousel. What I am
to be responsible for the effect this piece might actually involved in with my daughter is
have on those who were following my work. I affecting her, stimulating her response, fusing
wasn't making the statement I felt would be her response with mine, allowing her to affect
interpreted from this work. me too. q
ws: When did you do the Gingerbread Man
film?
Do: In February 1971. It's a ten-minute
performance in which I eat three complete
gingerbread men. Originally I was going to eat
them and try to reclaim them, to conjure them 19, 20, 21, 22
Land Incision (Documentation) 1969
up through my digestive tract.
ws: Vomit? 23
Do : Yes, and remake the figures. Ground Mutations— Shoe-prints
ws : How did the film work out ? Kearney, New Jersey 1969
Do: Well, it doesn't show the convulsions. I was 24
interested in the fact that this edible material, Footprints 1970
193