I remember you were involved in two music projects back in the days, could you tell us the story of both?
Music has always been a big part of my life. During the Apartheid era it was bands like Swans, Throbbing Gristle, Laibach, Skinny Puppy, Young Gods, 23 Skidoo and SPK that kept me sane. Eventually in 1986 I was part of an Afrikaans Punk band that was something between DAF and Einstürzende Neubauten. In 2003 I began collaborating with Partick Codenys from Front 242 experimenting with ritual, sound and video in full body exorcisms.
In your “Bloody Hell” performance, I am curious how you were using your blood and how you were “extracting” it?
I created that ritual in Ghandi’s old house which had fallen into ruin and a couple of friends were squatting there. I had just returned to Johannesburg for Mandela’s release. Apartheid was over and everything I was taught by my family, school, government and church was a crime against humanity. Everything I was bred to become, my language and culture (Afrikaans) were illegitimate. I was 23 years old and I decided to give birth to myself, to create my own personal language, identity, morality and faith. I bathed myself in my own blood, the blood of my ancestors, baptising myself into a Bloody Hell.
I have read you are against calling your art political, why and how would you explain that? How would you describe your art?
The problem with announcing your politics is that the audience either agrees or disagrees and so nothing changes.