In Conversation: Mike Parr. In: The Phenomenology of Blood in Performance Art

This chapter presents an in-depth conversation with legendary Australian performance artist Mike Parr, whose radical body-based works interrogate pain, memory, identity, and the limits of endurance. Through a series of discussions, Parr reflects on his decades-long practice, tracing his trajectory from early body art experiments of the 1970s, where self-inflicted pain functioned as a form of realism, to later performances addressing broader sociopolitical concerns.
Parr articulates how pain, both psychological and physical, became a defining aesthetic and conceptual tool in his work, serving as a means to navigate anxiety and existential uncertainty. He discusses pivotal works such as Hold Your Breath for as Long as Possible, Malevich (A Political Arm), and Blood Box, examining how acts of self-wounding transcend personal catharsis to implicate audiences in the spectacle of suffering. He reflects on his formative years, including the founding of Inhibodress, Australia’s first artist-run performance space, and how his disability shaped his understanding of performance as a medium of radical self-exposure.
The conversation also delves into the phenomenology of wounds, the role of blood as a performative material, and the interplay between self-inflicted violence, audience reception, and intersubjectivity. Parr’s reflections reveal how performance art allowed him to externalize inner turmoil, bridging personal trauma with broader artistic and political discourses.
Ultimately, this chapter provides a rare and intimate portrait of Parr’s evolving practice, emphasizing his commitment to performance as an uncompromising confrontation with the body’s limits. By situating his work within historical and contemporary contexts, the conversation illuminates the enduring significance of pain and endurance as artistic strategies in performance art.