Fiona McGregor: Water Series

Overview

A multi-channel video installation entitled Vertigo and photographic work from her, Tidal Walk, contextualise Fiona McGregor's new series at Artspace. Against the ground of documentation of her previous performance work, she will present durational performance pieces that reflect on water as a necessary resource for the body, and as a major element of the environment in which the human body exists. "When I see a tap running unattended, I feel like I am watching someone bleed," say McGregor, and her Water Series explore similarities between how the circulatory and digestive systems of the human body and the movement of water through physical environments.

It's an accumulative project in which the first work, Water 1: Descent sees the artist lying still covered in salts for 24 hours as rainwater equal to her body weight is released onto her forehead in drips. The second 24-hour piece, Water 2: Passage brings saltwater into the artist's body via an IV drip while another tube extracts her blood; this performance culminates in McGregor's back being tattooed with water. Water 3: Expulsion moves the water-body interaction to its final stage, from impact upon to journey through to production, wherein throughout a final 24 hour period McGregor will consume large quantities of water and use the resulting urine to power a small fountain.