“Who are you? How do you live?” These are the first questions in the artist statement for Deliverance — a live-art work by Kat Henry, Penny Harpham and William McBride — but the piece raises so many more.
Last performed outside of PLATOON KUNSTHALLE Berlin in August, 2012 (its third iteration since 2011), the Australian artists remained stationed in a five by six meter square outdoor space for ten days starting with nothing — no clothing, no food, no shelter, no materials whatsoever. Relying solely on the public/audience to facilitate their existence, the trio subsisted on donations as and when they came in (which started quickly, thanks to social media and pre- performance announcements) — clothing, food, tent, sleeping bag, toothbrushes, everything — and engaged with all comers while resolutely refusing to explicitly define their provocation.