“168 Hours Evel” is an endurance performance piece where I was Evel Knievel 24 hours a day for 7 days. In preparation for this performance, I enlisted the aid of a method acting coach. In method acting, the strategy is not to just externally portray a character, but to internally transform into that character by deconstructing the subject and finding the common ground between performer and subject. Once those core attributes are identified, the performer uses their own experiences to try to relate to the subject and understand their external behavior. In deconstructing Evel, we found that most of his behavior is derived from physical and emotional pain. My first step was to remember the feeling of breaking a bone then imagining that feeling traveling through my body.
The purpose of this performance started with questioning the needs icons like Evel Knievel fulfil in the American public. This thought process was derived from a longer project where I dissect the relationship working class Americans have to the legacy of the cowboy and how that icon is recreated through control systems to promote obedience. These types of archetypes contribute to a pro-capitalist mentality where the proletariat make political and social decisions that advocate against their own needs. The cowboy does not ask for government assistance or health insurance. He glorifies hard labor, working his body to death. He is a weapon of mass control that promotes nationalism and the glorification of suffering. These narratives are not only tools of obedience but templates that are easily impersonated by the ruling class to bluff a false comradely with the American public.
