If Civilisation (2018) | joshvyrtz

Gnawmass

(2019 - present)

Gnawmass is a disfigured performance of YouTube convention.

Gnawmass is a YouTube channel which operates within the perimeters of the website and proliferates original content that engages retroactively in an act of self mutilation.  

Born in 2005 youtube.com is now a bloated, multilayered biosphere that in 2019 boasts 1.9 billion active users. Further more, within this extensive and ever expanding framework unique, archetypal styles have mushroomed and matured; one in four of the over seven billion YouTube videos being unboxing videos. It is the particularity of those administered conventions in addition to the accidental, autobiographical moments (synonymous with YouTube's DIY aesthetic) that reveal the creators hand which Gnawmass seeks to point out and address.

Josh Vyrtz

Josh Vyrtz

Josh Vyrtz

If Civilisation

(2018)

Performance, 45:00, (w/ Axel Berger)

Struck by the asymmetry and questionable ethics of global resource distribution, If Civilisation, plays on the real potential for humans to carry, feed and support each other without the need for tools. But that which seems at first to be both utilitarian and constructive quickly appears remarkably similar to exploitation. Body techniques, simple props, a lurid soundscape and a methodology of laziness are employed to render an immersive work that takes aim at the imperialistic capitalist system.

'What I experienced was the opposite of being bored. It was a much-deserved morbid curiosity that I am glad to have witnessed.' Ed Fringe Review.

Performed:

August 2 - 27, 2018

Bar Bados Project Space (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Edinburgh UK

Excerpt:

Full video documentation available upon request.

© Josh Vyrtz 2019