https://incidentmag.com/2016/08/01/performance-art-tempting-failure-day-8/ for all day 8 reviews. Contains pictures that non-artists might consider rude. Me playing snooker on my own for example.
Richard Herring – Me 1 vs. Me 2 (2016)
By David LaGaccia
Richard Herring’s “performance” Me 1 vs. Me 2 was an
excruciating experience of unbearable length, pushing the jaded
avant-garde art crowd to its limits where before it was finished there
were many walk-outs, including myself…and on that level it was
successful. Explicit images of nudity, feces, blood, exotic fetishes, or
bodily fluids were nowhere to be seen; it was one man, a cue, and his
snooker table.
Herring was quick to point this out to the crowd as he walked in the
room, saying everyone will be severely disappointed that nothing
shocking or explicit will happen, and that he was going to play against
himself in a match of snooker for a chance to win the Chris Evans
trophy. Through each round, Herring would act as commentator, Me 1, Me
2, and scorekeeper. That’s it.
As one person said to me, “You can watch it on TV, but in a
performance art context you lose all interest.” And that is precisely
the point. This work is more in line with something that Andy Kaufman
would do, testing and pranking the audience. Performance can be a victim
of its own tropes, reusing and relying on the same “shock” imagery,
instead of true expression. Also, who said performance has to be
serious? Some of the best performances I’ve witnessed if you were to
describe them literally, were completely dumb in their actions, but
“worked” nonetheless.
I have absolutely no idea how it ended, but the match was best out of three and the results are as follows:
Game 1: Me 1
Game 2: Me 2
Game 3: Tie
Winner: Richard Herring
