Performance art is… let’s say, different. This discipline, which can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and popularized during the sixties, is an interdisciplinary expression that mixes audiovisual techniques to convey a message. We’ve seen so many news regarding performances with controversial subjects like those from Shia Labeouf. So, if you’re familiar with this type of art, or better said, used to it, you’ll probably think the story we’re going to tell is just a regular day in the performance art world; however, it caused a huge controversy in Taiwan.
In 2011, Su Hui-Yu, a Taiwanese artist based in Taipei, held an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOMA) in his home city called Stilnox Stroller. The performance consisted on a party-like setting with music and people acting as if they were really at a party. During the performance, the artist would give the audience some pills (allegedly Stilnox) and talk about the principles of the drug. Then he would encourage them to talk about the side-effects of the pill. All this with the finality of showing the full experience of consuming this drug without a medical purpose.
Now, Stilnox is a prescribed and controlled drug used to treat sleeping disorders. However, as Hui-Yu explains in the press release of the exhibition, it was also used as an recreational drug. He adds that when you take the pill you’re supposed to go to sleep, but in this particular use, consumers force themselves to stay awake while doing common activities like watching TV or a film, playing video games, talking with someone, and, of course, attending a party. In that way, Stilnox becomes a psychostimulant drug.
Okay, we get that’s the idea of medical drugs used for recreational purposes, but what’s the aim of the exhibition? And more importantly, why would you give people pills to fully experience your art? According to Hui-Yu, the idea was to subvert ideas of drug consumption, especially medicines. By doing so, he’s also questioning society’s posture on this matter while changing at the same time the attitudes of the audience towards art. So, by giving them pills that are supposed to be drugs, he invites the audience to take part of the piece and abandon the usual passive relationship between art and people: “the work attempts to subvert the conventional position of drugs in society by allowing their negative, yet real symptoms to fill the artistic space.”
The name of the exhibition, which is a reference to sleepwalking, shows what it’s like to be “awake” and under the effects of a drug that is supposed to numb your brain and force you into sleep mode. This sleep deprivation causes feelings of numbness, which may lead to hallucinations. So, at the end of the day, the exhibition’s aim was to make people experience what it feels like to be in a group of sleepwalkers attending an art opening.
Now, as I said, it created a huge controversy and this proved Hui Yu’s main argument. The moment the drugs were taken on a different context there was an uproar that revealed our double standards when it comes to the use of drugs.
Moreover, given it was a prescribed medicine, people cringed when they heard about the performance, arguing that both the museum and the artist were completely irresponsible, since they were endangering their audience for the sake of art.
Naturally, once the news came out in Taiwan, the press immediately tried to get in touch with someone involved in the exhibition. While the artist refused to answer these complaints, a representative from the museum clarified the whole issue. As he informed, the audience was asked to sign a form where they agreed on being part of the performance and released the artist and museum from any liability. Also, the form explained in detail the composition of the drug and its possible side effects (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hallucinations, memory loss, and drowsiness). However, it turned out that the audience never actually got Stilnox but placebos made out of sugar.
So, here’s the video projected at the performance. While it is hard to untangle its meaning, in my opinion it portrays hallucinations and the use of prescribed drugs. What’s your take on this performance?
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If you’re interested in this artistic expression, don’t miss these controversial performances:
5 Artists That Were Abused During Their Performances
The Man Who Had Sex With Different People As A Form Of Art
The Artist That Lets You Touch Her Genitals for Your Shame