Pataphysical Explorations to Disrupt Reality in the Most Unproductive Ways: An UMMA Dialogue with Christian Bok, David Doris, and Stephen Rush
Last week the Museum of Art held one of the weirdest series of performances and dialogues I’ve seen in my life. Presented by experimental poet Christian Bok (University of Calgary), art historian David Doris (UM), and music performance professor Stephen Rush (UM), the event challenged the audience to reconsider their preconceived definition of art, philosophy, and what ought to be presented in a museum in the first place.
The event featured a poetry reading and dance, a lecture on the art of turd polishing (which is exactly what it sounds like), and a talk on avant garde musical performance. I will focus on the poem recitation/interpretive dance.
I expected something a little off-kilter—pataphysics is a philosophical precursor to Dadaism, an attempt to create “imaginary solutions” to explain physical pheonomenon in the world.
But I still wasn’t prepared to see an interpretive dance performed by a group of students while Bok read Green Eggs and Ham aloud. Bok spoke aloud with energy and enthusiasm, accenting words at odd times such as to break the rhythm of the meter. He broke from his recitation at points to ask the dancers questions, and as they all yelled their answers in cacophonous unison, he told them to “shut up!”. The dancers themselves lay on the ground, performing independently and entirely uncoordinated.
The performance felt spontaneous, unrehearsed, and highly chaotic. Nevertheless, it was an excellent demonstration of Bok’s philosophical premise: the notion that the universe is chaotic and beyond human understanding. He explained his philosophy through the lens of multiple disciplines, primarily quantum physics, Hinduism, and Dadaism—a strange, perhaps even contradictory set of disciplines.
Quantum physics and Dadaism cohere in that quantum physics suggests a level of unpredictability and incoherence intrinsic to life and the universe. According to Bok, humanity’s scientific understanding of the universe is still so limited that we have trouble even randomizing models for planetary movement.
Hence, our everyday life is full of unwanted unexpected events. Bok’s pataphysical response to the accidents or randomness of life is colored by the Hindu philosophy of mindfulness—living in the moment, seeing the unexpected as an opportunity rather than a problem.
Keeping this in mind helps made some sense of Bok’s nonsensical performance. Artistic performances are intended to be creative acts. Yet most performances are rehearsed, binding originality and individual expression in a very specific structure. This pataphysics-inspired performance give the performers the freedom to be unique and individual with their every movement—Bok’s breaks from the Seuss poem allow him to imprint a personal touch on a classic text.
Bok’s performance also forces the audience to re-learn how to watch an exhibition in the first place. Rehearsed performances not only limit how an artist can express themselves, they also force a set of conventions on how to appreciate art on the audience. When we’re confronted with a strange, avant-garde performance unlike anything we’ve ever seen, we don’t know how to react, how to understand what is going on. Instead of feeling confused or uncomfortable, perhaps we should go with the flow, appreciate that we’re doing something new.
