CONSTIPATION BED (Performance)

ELIE MOUHANNA

— But you… you are perfect.

     Just perfect!

     So celestial!

— Perfect?!

     Right.

— Yes!

     A perfect, celestial figure; and you will always remain one.

     You are to be observed from a distance.

     That’s what makes you perfect.

— I don’t know if I want to be perfect.

 Extract from an e-conversation with a lover

 

The body is put on display, objectively, sharing a bed with snails: an outward manifestation of a state of mind. Untouchable, preserved in a prolonged state of inertia. All defenses discarded, vulnerable before a mass of penetrating gazes—the body-object is subject to contemplation. The visual is public, but the auditory is individual. Only one individual at a time can hear the manifestations of the body-object. Come. Listen.