citius, altius, fortius

The cancellation of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, a greatly anticipated quadrennial sporting event, left athletes around the globe in limbo. Similar to artists, for whom self-isolation can be a necessity for creative production, amateur Olympic athletes are familiar with rituals and rhythms of confined and focused living. However, in these unusual times, both artists and athletes found themselves unable to access the resources that make their craft possible: studios/training centers, stadiums/gallery venues, workout equipment/art materials, training camps/residencies.

My performance takes inspiration from Larry Miller’s Flux Olympics (1970), a series of unusually modified, aestheticized, and impossible track and field events held at Rutgers University by members of the Fluxus art movement. Generating performative interventions using sculptural, makeshift athletic equipment and apparel, I propose a collection of physical games and events held under the unfolding circumstances of our pandemic. Repurposing everyday objects to perform “outstanding” physical achievements that critically review Canada’s material history in relationship to the Olympics, the project builds upon my ongoing research on the intersections between moving bodies in athletics and culture.