Vissi D’arte
Blood Fountain Outfit/Performance
June 6-15 2024
Outfit/Performance/Installation/Makeup - Carter Tam
Videographer/Photographer/Editor - Alexander Atherton @xander.film
Opera Singing Voice - Carole King @caroleking1970
Opera Program Photographer - Maisie King @m.aisie.k
Audio Mixing Help - Elliot Jeffries @floodedribs
First Year Helpers - Nino Gherzi @giovannigherzi, Abigail Collicutt @abigailcollicutt, Mia Bevan @miamayaya, & Jill @jil____0_7_
Metal Workshop Technician Assistance - Jan Nixon @janeknixon & Falcon Driscoll Revolving platform loaned from The Revolving Stage Company UK & Rope Barriers loaned from YA Hire
In this rendition of Vissi D’arte, Carter Tam invites you to witness the unveiling of the blood fountain. In this durational endurance performance piece, Carter performed wearing this outfit for the duration of Chelsea Fine Art’s degree show 2024. The performer, spinning, bears the weight of the metal blood fountain outfit of over 29KG, activating every 7 minute interval to lip sync "Vissi D'arte", recorded specifically for this work. The outfit muses on violence within the current cultural context, and offers pennies to participants for contemplative wishes, envisioning the power and influence of capital and intention. Carter performs as a statuesque figure, fictioning a future in which subjectivities of queer figures are imagined as martyred monumental iconography. Their work revolves around the ontology of the garment and fashion, the role that appearance plays within the enacting of violence and identification of difference. Carter utilizes drag and the emotional power of opera tragedy to share their vision of a hopeful future.
