BEN GOULD

      

Mark

ANVIL CRAWLER




performed at Lyles & King, NYC 
2023

Anvil Crawler gives form to the electrical systems within the body, while being guided by the electrical circuit of our atmosphere and the idiosyncratic circuit of the artist’s neurology. Tuned to the formation of lightning from which the work itself is named, a choreographic structure unfolds and burns. While introducing an external electric current through the body administered by a series of electrodes, Gould’s Tourette’s Syndrome becomes unpredictably charged, newly ecstatic, and volatile - creating a language of movement that is guided by both his known condition and unknown sensation. The performance is illuminated by erratic flashes of light determined by real lightning strike data, which in turn feed the energetic movement system. Through stages of control, resistance, acceptance and abandon, the performance becomes a storm of viscerality, intimacy, and at times, joy.