h. blaize dangio

Interruption of cocktail hour at the
Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis
Dada Ball Fundraiser, May 2015
Creative Black Tie attire, tickets starting at $500

Duration: ~45min

Costume, exterior: Israeli gas mask fitted with plague doctor beak; hair slicked back in helmeted fashion; torn, white wedding dress; knee-high, leather combat boots with invisible strings; handmade gift pouch with straps, made from excess wedding dress material.

Costume, interior: bloody black and brown arms, pinned to interior of dress; bodice made from bloody strips of U.S. and Israeli flag; white flesh colored underwear.

Performance: Strutting around and eying the guests with the morbid curiosity of a marabou stork, our heroine attempts to amass capital in the form of used cocktail napkins, by theft, exchange, or any means necessary. All she has in form of exchange is a pouch full of fun, handmade Dada gifts, wrapped in delicate origami boxes and envelopes. After her supply of gifts is exhausted and her pouch gorged with cocktail napkins, she is overwhelmed by her embarrassment of riches. A terrible nervous breakdown ensues, in which, after a real struggle, her wedding dress is ripped off, and the source of her wealth and protection is revealed: severed black and brown arms, collected in the position of surrender, and undergarments formed from blood and symbols of nationalism and oppression. The mass of napkins does little to clean up the bloody mess in which she finds herself, and in a delirious rage she begins to foam at the mouth. As her heaving gradually slows and she begins to catch her breath, her attention is drawn back to the circle of guests now eying her warily. Finding all but one of their gazes cold, she locks eyes with the single humane face, composes herself, and exits.