That much of Glasgow International’s enticing performance programme takes place over this weekend and beyond—Asparagus Piss Raindrop at the Roller Stop Roller Rink; VERBureau’s ice cream night and slumber party; witch hunts and uprisings at Calton Burial Ground, to name but a few—is a source of much sadness for your departing correspondent. But there was considerable compensation to be found in last night’s double-whammy live art extravaganza, which kicked off with Toronto-based drag duo Hotnuts, whose singing and dj-ing provided an amply animated complement to Cosima Von Bonin’s cast of giant soft sea creatures in the main hall of Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art.
Then it was up the hill to The Glasgow School of Art where the now-Glasgow resident Marvin Gaye Chetwynd was hosting Mega-Hammer, “a space for pure expression” in which an eclectic parade of performers—including MGC’s husband Jedrzej Cichosz—bombarded the packed audience’s senses with every stimuli imaginable. We were fed Italian tricolore “paleo-Futurist canapés” of olive, kumquat and fennel whilst being sprayed with fragrant rosewater. Sweet potatoes were hurled at a gong, girls in fluorescent swimsuits snarled and strutted to heavy bass, there was soulful torch singing and accordion playing—all of which unfolded before a backdrop of ongoing day-glo live action painting. Outside on the street more crowds were treated to burning rubber, clouds of smoke and turns of speed from 10-year-old British Mini-moto champion and local lad, Ross Maguire. This entire multifarious meltdown was presided over with motherly concern by Marvin Gaye, who was herself resplendent in red body paint with magnificently extended breasts. London will seem very tame in comparison.