Preparation of a poisonous fish
Mickey, Chicago US
13 September, 24 October, 10 November, 2024

Preparation of a poisonous fish — for 1-2 performers in variable configurations, water, stage, and lighting, 17—41 minutes respectively

The preparation consists of cutting the fish which are still alive, avoiding piercing the liver or the reproductive organs, where the poison is stored. You can eat the outer skin when cleaned and blanched, and there is great skill involved in removing the spines: hold the skin in one hand and slice them all off with a knife in one movement. Remove the eyes. Now gut the fish. Be very precise with your knife because the ovaries and liver contain most of the poison. The performance accumulates around the spine, and is later expelled through the grammar of the hands. The idea is that the performers are, like an eel perhaps, generating an electric field.

original version performed by Alex Hovi and Andy Salvin, alternative version performed by Alex Hovi
stills from video footage courtesy of Kevin Weil