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Liverpool Cyclops

Liverpool Cyclops was a three-day, durational performance, which was commissioned as part of the Liverpool Biennial by the Bluecoat Gallery in 2011 (http://www.briancatling.com/liverpool_cyclops/index.php). The work was researched and developed to explore the boundaries between audience, performer, gallery and street and directly engaged with the Biennial theme of Touched by questioning the definition of the outsider in society and the ways in which outsiders are observed and socially described.

The performance space of the Bluecoat was inverted so that the audience could only look down into the enclosure from a balcony above. This turned the enclosure into a proxy bear-pit. The space was populated by six sculptural objects, including a long hooded bed-like form that was covered in coins as if dropped from the balcony above; an articulated wooden spine that thrashed at different speeds inside its own carrying case; and a large glass bowl full of water with a video camera hidden beneath its surface. Adopting the persona of a Cyclops, Catling moved between these objects and operated them with a detached and modest dignity in marked contrast to his disturbing, masked appearance.

Videos were also shown of Catling’s journeys between the Bluecoat Gallery and Adelphi Hotel. These journeys, which involved a group of up to ten volunteers who followed the Cyclops, invading his space and impeding his progress with questions and flash cameras, explored themes of disability, perceived abnormality and alienation. The records of these nocturnal odysseys were projected on the floor of the bear-pit the following day. The public realm components of the performance commanded curiosity and strong reactions from passers-by and the videos made for a vivid contrast with the quiet enigma of the gallery-based activity.