Performance Cart 2014 Photo: supplied
Touring New Zealand as part of Performance Art Week Aotearoa in November, American performance artist Kalan Sherrard describes his artistic anti-hero Enormousface as a “slime mould who lives in a (w)hole in the sky with dozens of feral pups”.
If it’s not already clear from that statement, Sherrard - who prefers to go by the pronoun ‘xE’ - is a self-declared anarchist guerrilla artist.
American performance artist Kalan Sherrard's Brooklyn studio in 2017 Photo: supplied
Known for absurd puppetry and sculptural performance work on the streets and underground of New York City, Sherrard has toured shows and created festivals across Europe and the Americas. New York Magazine has described xE as “NYC’s most avant-garde nihilist subway performer”.
Extinction Cart 2019 Photo: supplied
In Pōneke, Enormousface is building a large kinetic installation from local rubbish which will be activated using string in collaboration with others. xE will then tour with the PAWA performance programme to Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson and Motueka.
There is a clear method in Sherrard’s madness. Much like the Dada artists in the wake of World War One - who rejected the logic, reason, and aesthetics of capitalist society 100 years ago - Sherrad’s work is a reaction to human greed and an economic system that sees huge amounts of waste, environmental degradation and inequality.
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In New York Enormousface first came to prominence during the Occupy Wall Street Movement and also received a lot of attention on the streets in 2016 for his ‘Beat up Trump’ performances. Kalan also gained notoriety for being arrested while protesting elitism in the arts at the gates of Art Basel Miami.
More recently Sherrard has organised Garbage Fest, a “situationist post-everything not-happening” in ten American cities and has been touring with the Flotsam River Circus on the Upper Mississippi.
Creature 2022 Photo: supplied
Enormousface also periodically lectures on Ontological Nihilist Cosmogony on the streets, granting PhDs to passersby.
xE’s work ‘Against Embodiment: Anti-Human Garbage in a forest of Nihil’ will come to life 8pm Friday November 3 at the Adam Art Gallery at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University.
Performance Art Week Aotearoa brings the public together with artists from Aotearoa and overseas for performances, workshops and discussions. The full programme is here.
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