'How to kill the fascist in you?' is a Deleuzian 'War-Machine', conceived as an absurdist response to the 'milkshaking' events in the UK, at a time when the artist was also staying there. 

Gilles Deleuze is of the view that fascism should not only be viewed as a deceptive ideology fooling masses engaged with it; it did not always make people comply with its demonic plans rather the people actually desired it. According to him, “Fascism functions by turning the desire of a body or of a population in upon itself, ultimately to the point of its own suicidal self-destruction. Rather than desire operating according to principles dictated to it by the rational interests of an established population, desire pursues the subjugation and ultimate destruction of the body or population in which those rational interests are invested” (Reid, 2003).


Since 'milk-shaking' has become an important way to fight and ridicule the far-right, the artist is raising the question, “Is that all?”, “Is this enough?", in the fight against fascism. The artist believes that deep inside each one of us there exist a fascist which needs to be killed, invoking the power of desire and war against the forces of humanity and reason, at some point or the other. The performance is given a religious/spiritual overtone of penance/surrender and emergency by incorporating the bell chime (a common sonic element in many religions and cultures of the world) as well as the kneeled seating position of the artist.


Reference(s):
Reid, J. (2003) ‘Deleuze’s War Machine: Nomadism Against the State’, Millennium, 32(1), pp. 57–85.
doi: 10.1177/03058298030320010301.

How to kill the fascist in you ?

'Hi-bred border - Sector 8' is an absurdist take on border politics. Using porous and soft, bread based foods
belonging to various cultural spheres the artist is questioning boundary making and exclusion associated with
nation states and the connected dichotomy. Using three camera angles the artist is exposing what is
happening on all sides there by ridiculing the whole process of nation building which is based on the notion
of authenticity, purity and difference.

Hi-bred Border - Sector 8

'Flow and Resistance' was conceived as an absurdist response to the dehumanizing and otherizing representation of migrants and refugees in popular media causing an increase in paranoia and hostility. Such media representations successfully create an 'us' and 'them' binary portraying migrants as criminals and barbarians lacking morality and honesty, versus the law abiding, civilized and pure host society.

Inspired by the concept of Hybridity enunciated by Homi Bhabha which challenges the authenticity and validity of culture as a changeless, pure and stable entity, the artist combines yoga and baked beans (two cultural commodities with very distinct origin) in resistance to the words repeated in the background - alien, animal, dangerous, insect, invader, marauder, raccoon, rapist, terrorist and vermin. These are few of the dehumanizing words employed by media and political leaders to describe migrants and refugees.

Using Homi Bhabha's 'Hybridity' the artist is creating a place of subversion, devoid of any self/other binary, contributing to the inception of a transnational culture.


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KAILAS SREEKUMAR