Occupation I, II

performance

In Occupation I, II 2003- 4, Ashery is wearing a rabbit mask whilst masturbating to a collection of pornographic images and images form military occupations, particularly in Palestine. The masturbation is mechanical and the rabbit never reaches a climax. The rabbit’s intimate yet public acts embody the complex relationship between desire and stimulation. Media images of are met with both an obsessive repetitive voyeuristic fascination, (like tapes from 9/11 that have been watched over and over again) whilst at the same time a numbness and indifference symptomatic of an over -saturated information culture.

The performance was shown along side the video Occupation I, II (see video section) where an object is inserted into the rabbit’s body causing him/her to convulse.

Next to the rabbit a performer dressed as a generic soldier performed various acts depending on the location. In Zagreb the space was divided into an intimate white space where the audience went in one at a time, to meet the rabbit holding a live feed camera documenting and projecting into a second space the material he is viewing as well as the participants’ gaze. In the second space, a dimly lit social space, drinks were served whilst people watched the live feed and the video. The soldier was encroaching on people’s personal space. The soldier was used again in this way in Welcome Home at Ps1#12

Occupation I, II was performed at: 291 Gallery, London, Hull Time Based, UK, Art, T1&2 Art space , London and Galerija Matice Hrvatske, Zagreb.