UTOPIA=NO PERSON was one part ritual performance one part initiation ceremony conducted via “15 minute exorcise routines” lead by the pseudo-utopian cult called The Now Age (members of Prince Rama). A play off the words “exercise” and “exorcise”, UTOPIA=NO PERSON focused on the body as a vehicle for utopian experimentation, encouraging willing participants to undergo a confrontation with personal demons and shedding of individual identity through the physical exhaustion of the body. Here, the element of “trance” played a crucial role in the music of both shamanic exorcism rituals and classic dance aerobic routines as a means to syncopate physical movements to metaphysical time patterns and hopefully elicit an interplay between the physical and spiritual realms. Using the famous aerobics instructor Paul Eugene’s motto, “Let yourself go”, as an existential battle cry, Prince Rama transformed the concert space into a mystical gym as part of their three month Artist Residency at Issue Project Room in Brooklyn.


Performance exerpt taken from Issue Project Room, February 2011. The exorcise was performed continuously for 8 hours straight.






"The immersive setting included a bar offering rainbow-colored "chakra water"; smoky incense; video projections and monitors; altars with skulls, feathers, and a disco ball; metallic sheets covering the walls; bunches of garlic hung over the door; colored flashing lights; and, of course, a transcendental soundtrack of distorted synthesizers, bells, and chirping birds." --The Village Voice







YOU TOO CAN EXORCISE YOURSELF


In collaboration with Video Program

Photos Courtesy of Rebecca Smeyne