E/S 17: DEASCENT

 The Erogate/Surrogate Performance Series, a long-term curatorial project that I have been developing since 2012, is an exploration of the direct and indirect ways we create with and each other as we attempt to re-locate art works into other bodies/sites/ecologies.

Erogation, a word which sadly has fallen into disuse, has its etymological roots in both the acts of giving and inquiring. Therefore, I define erogate performer as the one who offers, proposes a performance or line of research, thus setting it in motion. On the other hand, surrogation means putting into place of another, so a surrogate performer is one who carries, (per/trans)forms, and delivers a given inquiry. Finally, the corrogate performer is the one who brings erogates and surrogates together. The caretakergivergifter. The zookeeper. The curator. A corrogate is the E/S cycle’s initial erogate and also functions as a second surrogate of sorts throughout the process.

For the 16th performance of the series, I asked students of a walking workshop I taught in China to surrogate perform “Deascent” my piece for the 12th Shanghai Biennale, which consisted in climbing up to get down and climbing down to get up using the escalators of the Power Station of Art. So on January 20, 2019, eight surrogate climbers did a 4 hour-long collective version of the piece. Instead of the original 8 hours (from opening to closing time of the museum), each “deascender” performed for 30 minutes.