The Wrestling Memoirs

I've been doing a spot of historical reading into Mexican wrestling to gain insight into the significance of masks. Originally they were just a method of distinguishing wrestlers and originated from Aztec ideas. In recent years they have become a means of developing a character. Many masks now depict Gods, Animals and other Archetypes through colour and shape, rather than being obviously, say, a lion's head.

The masks play a huge role within 'Lucha Libra' (Spanish for 'Free-fighting') There is a tradition of wrestlers being unmasked in final bouts or final tours to signify that the wrestler will be retiring. The loss of mask amounts to a 'loss of character'. This is something which will be incorporated in some way into my video/performance.

I've been looking closely at, in wrestling terms, 'Kayfabe' which describes the portrayal of events within wrestling as being 'real' rather than staged. Ie, feuds, rivalries, storylines and the fighting involved. Wrestlers maintain kayfabe within the ring, at shows and also outside of the shows maintaining their character. This is certainly something I wish to exploit within my video.

I'm saying video... But I see the final outcome consisting of video, sound, performance and interaction. Possibly inspired by the works of Don Ritter, who creates installations that react to user participation.
View this: http://aesthetic-machinery.com/voxpopuli.html

I'm possibly thinking of holding various press-conference style interviews as a means of performance art at different times over the course of the final exhibition to continue the idea of Kayfabe and to appear alongside the video. Obviously this will mean me donning wrestling attire and taking my performance of being a wrestler to a live audience. Which could make the art interactive. possibly a Q and A type session twice daily.

More ideas to follow...