Rita Marcolo a performance artist has provoked controversy over her plans to induce an epileptic fit in front of a live audience. She plans to do this at the Bradford Playhouse next month and will induce the fit with the aid of alcohol and strobe lighting. Entitled Involuntary Dances, the artist claims its purpose is to explore the relationship between epilepsy and dance. Sounds like baloney? Not according to the Arts Council England who have given her a £13,899 grant along with a £7000 commission for the proposed piece.
Marcolo, who is an award winning choreographer is artistic director of her own company, Instant Dissidence, based in Leeds, has invited the audience to film her fit, saying she wants to educate the public about the potentially fatal disease. She says she has been horrified by films up-loaded to the internet of sufferers during a fit that have been put there without the persons permission and that this is partly why she has decided to induce a fit in public.
“As someone with epilepsy, the threat of seizure is something I deal with every day of my life. It is an invisible disability but most of us know someone with it. My intention is to raise awareness of the condition by making it visible. People will have their own opinion but I am doing this from an artistic perspective.”she says. Going on to deny that what she is doing is dangerous, the artist says “I am interested in creating work that makes people consider certain things they don’t normally think about. It raises questions. I knew it could be controversial but I am doing this because it is personal to me.”
Describing the experience of a fit she said “It begins by feeling like an aura which is very disorientating. It feels like all the senses you take for granted are changed – your visual perception, how your body feels, your skin, your intestines – everything is altered. It feels very painful and disturbing. That is the most difficult part. When I am unconscious I feel nothing and afterwords you just feel very tired.”
However Philip Lee, chief executive of Epilepsy Action, has said “This is potentially very dangerous and something we would strongly urge this person not to do. Seizures can bring with them the risk of injury from jerking or falling and, in the worst cases, death.”
