My Arm

I was watching a lot of TV, eating a lot of processed food. It was the 1970s. Heaven . . . At the age of ten, for want of anything more meaningful to do, I put my arm above my head and kept it there. Now, thirty years on, I’m so full of meaning it’s killing me.My Arm is the story of an empty gesture. It’s the testimonial of a man who has lived by the courage of his lack of conviction since 1974. In that process he’s become a celebrated medical specimen and an icon of the New York art scene.The story is told through a live performance, digital film and the animation of everyday objects supplied by the audience before each performance. Above all, My Arm is an extraordinary piece of theatre about modern art, bloody-mindedness and how the things we do when we’re ten stick with us for life. My Arm, produced by News from Nowhere, premi red at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2003.