Spitparty: DNA imaging and aesthetic mimicry

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Notes

¹Bios: Zoë/Spitparty (2013–14): The performances were directed by the authors and choreographically supervised by Philippe Riera (Superamas), with performers Rotraud Kern, Nicholas Hoffman, Lucie Strecker and Susanna Kautschitsch. The performances have been shown at Tanzquartier Wien Centre for Contemporary Dance and Performance and Budascoop Kortrijk among others, and at medical and art universities.

²Due to its easy accessibility, saliva is becoming the crucial diagnostic biomedium. In our scenarios, saliva evolves as a blend of literal presence and symbolic meaning, thereby becoming a critically contextualized narrative instance.

³In distinguishing this crucial part of our performance from bioart, Hauser refers to it as ‘molecular theatre’ (2014). Both formats deal with real-time performativity at the molecular level, but the DNA fragments in the Spitparty do not have unaffiliated agency and therefore do not achieve the level of microperformativity that Hauser demands for bioart (2013). Whereas Vanouse, for example, recently used enzymatic bioscissors to create O. J. Simpson's bands from his own, kissing spectators in Spitparty are depicted by unmodified bands from the saliva of either one or the other partner, hence with clear ownership (Hauser 2014).