Checkerspot Magazine

(Feature Article about artist' responses to climate change. Featuring Gareth Bate's Penance Performance)
Oct. 2008
Curtesy of the Checkerspot Magazine
Return to Press Menu | Read as Plain Text

 

 

 

Checkerspot Magazine

(Feature Article about artist' responses to climate change. Featuring Gareth Bate's Penance Performance)
Oct. 2008
Curtesy of the Checkerspot Magazine
Return to Press Menu

 

In his video Penance, Toronto performance artist Gareth Bate inches along Queen Street West like an earthworm, with a hand-made swath of grass strapped to his back. His production evokes the Greek myth of Atlas, the titan who balanced the world upon his shoulders. Bate says the work respresents "a bizarre act of self-punishment and humiliation in penance for environmental destruction." He admits that like a lot of performance art, it is "half serious and half ridiculous." Its ridiculousness draws the attention of passersby, many of whom approach with shaking heads and rollings eyes. But, as they get closer, they stop to ask Bate whether he needs help, perhaps demonstrating a subconscioius connection to the environment.