Sisyphus is Happy

 

the writer performing at the science education museum in Taiwan…

What this performer gained from doing his performances in the Metro Arts Museum here in Taipei, translated…
In Greek mythology, because Sisyphus offended the orders of the gods, he was punished to push gigantic rocks from the foot of the hills up to the top. And yet, as the huge rocks reached the top of the mountains, it’d, rolled back quickly toward the valleys again, and, all Sisyphus could do, was to roll the rocks back up again. This mortal who’d used his body to fight his own fates, continually tackled this useless and outrageous feat, over, and over, and over again.
I was invited to perform my creation of “Sisyphus is Happy” at the Taipei Metro Art’s Museum’s exhibition of “Interactions—Eight Days Two Evenings with Ten Artists”. For the full hour, I’d gotten down on the floors, crawled, and rolled along a rock made with tarp and pebbles. I’d made a rule for myself: my hands shall never leave the rocks, and, I can’t ever stop during the process of rolling the rock.

not my artwork…

The existentialist, Camus in “The Myth of Sisyphus” wrote, “We need to imagine that Sisyphus is happy.” Camus believed, that tragic characters such as Sisyphus who’d done the same absurd deed day in and day out, are those with the free wills. Every moment, the individual makes the decisions for oneself. As he watched the gigantic rocks roll back down the slopes, his own free will pushes him to follow it, and he isn’t afraid, of weathering through this never-ending, pointless “punishment” daily.
The moment Sisyphus walked down the slopes, he’s probably very happy only for a small moment in time.

not my animation…
On the third day of “Interactions—Collective Works”, I accidentally picked up this small piece of tarp, size of my palm, with the sides extinguished, I’d felt, that it’s quite, out of place, that it wasn’t supposed to be there. It’d looked like the leftover remains from a construction site, or from the broken pavements getting fixed. I’d decided to pick it up, and, used it as a piece that’s used to discuss the space, the time, and the body in the Art’s Museum.
The Taipei Metro Arts Museum had nine foosball tables, and, they’re all, occupied by children and adults, competing, playing on them. I’d leaned in against one of the boards, and used tapes to mark out the starting line—also the finishing line—then, started rolling it along, and, got down beside it to roll it along. Through the rolling of the piece, I could extend my field of vision from the floors, and gotten the chance to enjoy the Taipei Metro Arts Museum from an alternative angle; the lady who volunteered at the entrance, collecting the tickets, her black shoes were seriously worn out at the front; a group of curious children from kindergarten passed me by, the teacher quickly explained, “It’s okay, it’s a performance”. Taking the rock piece, moving along, using my body slowly, slid across the floor, at that time, the roughness from the tarp created this sharp and interesting contrast with the delicately carved sculptures. There was a member of the audience that laughed and told his friend close by, “Is it because we’re in a museum? For some reasons, that dark piece of rock looked, artistic and beautiful”.
Suddenly, my senses were, sharpened, I’d heard the sounds that the rock made against the various types of materials of the floors. Then, I saw an ant, that accompanied me for a short while, and, as I crawled into another space, the ant appeared once more. Although I’m focused, on rolling the rock, I can feel the gazes of wonderment from the audience, and their feet, shuffling, to get out of my way, and I’d heard how the audience felt bad for my body being in pain, and their awe at my performance.
Finally, as my body became very fatigued, the second half of my passage, I’d gone, in this excruciating pain I felt in my body, and, my mind started faltering too. From before when I’d read about Sisyphus’s pains, at this moment, my body finally understood what that felt like, a little bit. Although I only perform just this once, for just one hour, perhaps, I’m nowhere NEAR the half-crazed repeated behaviors, but, that seemingly desperate, and the drive, to keep going with nothing MORE than one’s own will, there was NO ramps in the Taipei Metro Art’s Museum, so there’s no time for a short break for me, through the rolling of the small rock piece, the ray of the setting sun caught me, a young child pretending to be asleep, the joys they’d given me, it’d, made my momentary existence materialize.
So, this, is the performer, challenging oneself, he’d taken on this pointless deed, just as Sisyphus had from the mythologies, and, what he weathered through, was ONLY partial to what Sisyphus does in the mythologies, and it’d given him an alternative angle of things, he got the opportunity, to examine his surrounding world from another brand new angle, because, let’s face it, NOBODY in her/his right state of mind would start crawling onto the ground of a museum. And he’d gained a better understanding of himself in this performance he’d come up with too I’m sure!