‘ ... even more than by the filth of its organs, the flower is betrayed by the fragility of its corolla; thus, far from answering the demands of human ideas, it is the sign of their failure’
Georges Bataille, The Language of Flowers
The Language of Flowers was conceived for Visions of Excess an eighteen hour ‘voyage into the heart of darkness’ curated by Ron Athey & Vaginal Davis for the FIERCE! Festival 2003
Bringing together a range of international artists including Bruce La Bruce, Ron Athey, Marisa Carnesky, Vaginal Davis, Udo Kier, Kembra Pfahler, Kira O’Reilly & the Velvet Hammer Burlesque. This durational event, staged in the decadent surroundings of the Demon Lap Dancing Club, explored Bataille’s key concerns of death, the erotic and the forbidden
The Language of Flowers was recently re-staged for the sell-out event The Monster in the Night of the Labyrinth at the Hayward Gallery, London, as part of Undercover Surrealism, Picasso, Miro, Masson and the Vision of George Bataille. Photographs from this event will be online soon and a DVD will be available for sale by the end of the year
The Language of Flowers (excerpt)
