Is This Burning an Eternal Flame? (A Queer Rite)
By MKNZ and Allie Huska

Performance: Thursday, October 4th at 7pm until 10:00pm


For those of us who grew up in the margins of queer identity, those of us who couldn't blend, those of us to who couldn’t acculturate to the current, we have only each other and simulations of the rituals we grew up with but are barred from participating in. We are often left seeking connection to our spirituality not through the words of scriptures used to oppress us, but through the lyrics of pop songs; through gathering in night clubs, punk houses, public beaches at dawn, back alleys and front porches. We don’t fall at the feet of statues of saints, but at the feet of the impermanent bodies of our friends and lovers. 

For this performance, MKNZ will be bound in rope and coated in a thick layer of animal fat; the body of the artist becomes a collective and temporary sculpture in service of a queer rite. The audience is invited, one at a time, to light a candle and place it on the body of the artist. What melts during and remains after the performance will be kept in the gallery until the end of October.