I will approach the call to “explore the nude human body in context of nature, culture and art” from a queer perspective, questioning our relation to nature and what is considered natural. To queer the natural is to question assumptions about what is or is not natural. It is to simultaneously reject the idea of an essential nature while embracing our multiple, shifting and fluid possibilities. I will explore the notion of bisexuality as a nomadic sexuality by constructing a camp site (a nomadic structure) as a performance installation. Camping materials will be punctured by holes, enabling passage across multiple axes, queering the space. I will live and work in this queer space, developing a durational performance to occur at that site at the conclusion of the residency. It will serve as an extension of my body into the surrounding environment. I am interested in making visible the idea that the body is not bounded by skin or by clothing, but exists in a complex set of relations with the world around us. The body and nature are not separate entities, but intertwined.
My work is based in a porous, fragmented body, always in process of transformation through its relation to others. It is characterized by playful curiosity, experimentation and a wryly absurd sense of humour. Hovering between a minimalistic and an over-the-top approach, I use simple materials and actions in ways that produce a queer excess. Often dealing in ambiguity, in-between-ness, and the fluidity of gender, sexuality and self, my work opposes the closure that comes from an overemphasis on the role of language in making meaning and sense of the world. Rather it engages with the possibilities that emerge when body, material, space and audience encounter each other.
David Frankovich, is an artist based in Helsinki and Toronto working in performance art and experimental media. They hold a BFA in Film and Video from York University, Toronto (2007) and are currently pursuing an MA in Live Art and Performance Studies from the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki.