performance/visuals

Sasha Wilde: sketches on surviving satanic panic at Titanik gallery, Turku, Finland, May 2022. Live performance

I presented “Sketches on surviving a satanic panic” at the end of my sound art residency at Titanik gallery in Turku, Finland.

This new work in development deals with being accused of witchcraft and satanism as a teen, under quite tragic circumstances. The town begins its trial. Police, journalists and teacher committees, as well as regular town folk seek to get a confession out of me; a confession of my perversion, possession of magical powers, and my pact with the devil.
. . .

I am taken to the headmaster’s office, where I am sat down at one end of a long table with the headmaster and his deputies around me. He slams some random people’s poems printed off the website “gothic.lt” in front of me and asks me to explain them. I tell him they’re not mine and so I don’t know what they’re about. One deputy impatiently inserts herself: “What do you think about cemeteries?” “I find them a peaceful place to visit and contemplate” “But why cemeteries? Isn’t it a morbid place to spend time in?” I say “Death is part of life and I like to contemplate that”, after which another deputy tells everyone she agrees with me, leading to a fight between the two deputies over whether death is part of life or not. I sit patiently, observing, until they notice me again and tell me I’m free to go.

Pictures and videos by Elie Halonen

“Sex Re-Boot”, Iklectik, onsite event as part of the new Performance art curatorial fellowship curated by Dyana Gravina, London, 2022. Performance with MiMU Gloves and spatial sound.
vocals – sasha wilde
movement – byuka
bass – nmbc