Blood of Two
This site-specific performance was created by Barney in collaboration with American visual artist Elizabeth Peyton for the inauguration of the new DESTE Foundation Project Space, housed in the former slaughterhouse on Hydra Island in Greece. The piece drew inspiration from the local natural environment and the population (their culture, tradition, religion, and ritual). Three months prior to the performance, a heavy bronze and glass vitrine was submerged in the sea by a group of divers, in a small cove near the Project Space. The vitrine contained five collaborative drawings produced by Barney and Peyton in pencil and blood, showing animals, agricultural scenes, and mythological figures, as well as a bronze book.
At dawn on the day of the performance, local fishermen retrieved the heavy vitrine from the water and carried it up a narrow staircase to the road. Next, the carcass of a dogfish shark (referencing fishing traditions and religious imagery) was laid atop the vitrine. The vitrine and shark were then placed in a wooden cart, pulled by a horse to the site of the former slaughterhouse, accompanied by a procession of human participants. Once inside the slaughterhouse, the head fisherman opened the vitrine, allowing the seawater to pour out dramatically onto the floor, and revealing the artistic contents hidden inside. The bronze book had developed an aquamarine patina, during its three months underwater. The shark was later cooked and fed to visitors. The video of this performance was just one of several artworks (including sculptures by Barney and paintings by Peyton) that comprised the inaugural exhibition of the Project Space, which was supported by the Municipality of Hydra and Hydra's Ecologist Society.
The art critic Chris Bors described Blood of Two as "a ritualistic artwork that encompasses local customs without succumbing to the tropes of cultural tourism". Indeed, he points out that the event borrowed from a local Easter tradition that "inaugurated the traditional Miaoulia festival, honoring those who fought in the Greek Revolution [during"> the war for independence from Turkey, which began in 1821". Bors also pointed out that while they "remained true to their own visual languages", Barney and Peyton had managed to put to one side their excessive and romantic (respectively) tendencies to "engage the people of Hydra and the island's history, making them participants rather than viewers [in an"> anthropological, experiential project in tune with [Hydra's"> distinctive setting".
Performance - Deste Foundation Project Space, Hydra Island, Greece
