To complete this inauguration of this blog, I just want to quickly talk about Kim Noble, whose work initially got me thinking about technology, psychology and being a ‘mentalist’ (his word, not mine). Kim is doing his performance ‘Kim Noble Will Die” at the Bluecoat in Liverpool on the 14th May: come and see it if you can. The piece is described as a mulimedia suicide note and basically takes one of his manic depressive breakdowns as the subject of an hilarious and excruciating performance. I went down to Oxford University to hear him speaking as part of a panel on “The Inspired Illness: exploring the links between mental disorders and creativity in society”. It was wonderful to see him present his controversial work in the middle of Oxford University, encouraging a slightly bemused Oxford student to call his Mum and ask her about his illness. Incidentally his Mum denies that he has an illness and says thats ‘just how he is’. I wonder if its actually quite difficult for a parent to consider their offspring has a permanent mental disorder such as bi-polar?
Anyway, what’s great about Kim’s work is that he completely subverts the reality TV aesthetic of the media, giving us far too much ‘reality’ about his chaotic breakdowns. It exploits the ‘fly on the wall aesthetic’ of video blogging to the point of being highly disturbing. Check this link for a more eloquent commentary than mine. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/co… And follow this link to buy tickets for his show in Liverpool http://www.thebluecoat.org.uk/
