Inebriationism

Abstract

Alcohol has acquired unprecedented prominence in art and performance during the last two decades. Drinking in the art context is more than just entertainment, it is an embodied practice, but with an edge: alcohol’s potency renders it a paradoxical consciousness-altering agent, capable of creating feelings of cordiality as well as releasing chaotic energies. This article analyses the performativity of alcohol from a threefold perspective: drinking as a performance methodology to produce artworks, events and behavioural states; alcohol as an inherently performative substance that is both the product of transformation (fermentation and distillation) and a transforming (intoxicating) beverage for those who consume it; and alcohol as a relational performance medium through its role in lubricating sociality, which is especially manifested in the burgeoning phenomenon of ‘artists’ bars’ appearing in numerous exhibitions, museums and art fairs. By focusing on the performativity of alcohol in recent videos, process-based artworks, performances and participatory installations, this article explores how embodied encounters can combine pleasure with contemplation to address complex social and political issues.

Notes

1 When one takes into account that 1972 witnessed a number of momentous social crises – miners’ strikes, massive unemployment, the burning of the British Embassy in Dublin, Bloody Sunday – the artists’ affectless performance serves up a disturbing commentary on denial in the British character, particularly when the alcohol facilitates passiveness and detachment, bears the royal seal of approval, and is accompanied by the playing of Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance.

2 Francis Alÿs, text from the documentation is integrated into the artwork.

3 Vautier’s Drunk I could be said to harken back to such antagonistic and anarchic performances as Arthur Cravan's scandalous ‘lecture’ on Dada (1917), in which he arrived at the venue stupendously drunk, stripped off his clothes and heaved invectives at the audience of New York City socialites, eventually to be handcuffed by police and hauled off the stage (Buffet-Picabia 1979: 15– 16). The crucial difference between Cravan and Vautier is that the former exemplified the avantgarde's dictum of ‘l’épater le bourgeoisie’ while the latter contravened the amiable collectivity of artists themselves.

4 A performance score by George Maciunas also appears to skewer cultural pretensions about alcohol. Duet for Full Bottle and Wine Glass (n.d.) provides a list of actions to take with the eponymous props. By ending the score with ‘sipping/rinsing mouth/ spitting’, Maciunas seems to parody wine-tasting events. See Friedman et al. (2002).

5 Some of the wine was consumed during a meal performance, After the Gold Rush, but for the most part, the artist left it to the collector to decide whether to drink it or not – the ephemerality of the wine is part of the work. Gallaccio has also distilled another multiple, Eau de Vie de Pommes (2001), from apples grown in the Swiss countryside (Kino 2006).

6 Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (2004). AVL has produced an operational still in Workshop for Alcohol and Medicines (1998), a shipping container outfitted with distilling equipment, whereby the user can decide to produce either illegal spirits or healing elixirs, depending on their ethical stance.

7 This work is part of a long-term project entitled Great Distillations that started with Nineteen-Fifty-Four at the Kuensterhaus Bethanien in Berlin (1994) and recently featured Das Kapital – Distillation in London (2015).

8 Firewater combines both the artist's personal history (he has lived in New York and has relatives who have emigrated to the USA) and official history (US and Romanian interactions during the Cold War, such as Richard Nixon's visit to Romania, and Nicolae Ceausescu's visit to Washington) (Mihaltianu 2015). Firewater also involved video and audio components, as well as audience participation, where the public was invited to taste the distillate, discuss and exchange ideas about alcohol, and share stories, recipes and distillation techniques (Mihaltianu 2017).

9 Firewater's title no doubt comments on alcohol's role in the colonization and attempt at eradication of the aboriginal population in North America, particularly when liquor was distributed with the intent of undermining Indigenous peoples’ cultural fabric. Other projects in Mihaltianu's distillation series include Balt–Orient– Express Schnaps (1996) (schnapps referencing the famous train ride from Berlin to Bucharest and remarking on the trials of moving between Eastern Bloc countries), KulturKonjak (1997) (cognac made in Vienna evoking the contradictions of the former imperial monarchy), and The Frontiers Tales (1996) (a beer made in Canterbury reflecting upon experiences of crossing borders and confronting customs imbroglios).

10 Mihaltianu (1996) recalls that the illegality of the alcohol production was felt more intently in New York, where people were reluctant to take even a sip, skittish as they were about negative side effects; in European countries, visitors gulped down the brew whenever it was offered.

11 Collaboration is an integral part of the projects, and Absolut supplies a professional mixologist to assist the artists (Absolut n.d.).

12 Absolut’s art bars have been staged not only at Art Basel locations, but also documenta and Art Dubai, among other exhibitions (Absolut n.d.).

13 Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2011). Fittingly, Baldwin has earned a Smart Serve license from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (Adams 2015).

14 On the ‘scriptedness’ of drinking and sociality across cultures, see Wilson (2006).