Cut Banana

performance, 2013

In this project loosely inspired by Yoko Ono’s “Cut piece” I distribute bananas to the public, but not before a procedure is performed on them. Wearing latex gloves and wielding a scalpel, I make an incision around the tip of fruit and remove the peel, echoing the circumcision of a penis. One can never have the banana uncut. The performance ends when I run out of fruit.

I first performed Cut Banana at the Milkmaid Gallery in East Lansing, Michigan, on January 19th 2013. I cut 33 bananas and distributed them to the public. Some had custom cuts. Most got eaten. Some people could not eat the banana after the procedure.

In February of the same year I performed the piece again at the (Scene) Metrospace Gallery in East Lansing, Michigan, as part of IDENTITIES - an exhibit of experimental theater by the Lansing Art Works. Again, 33 bananas were cut and distributed.

In 2015, Cut Banana was presented by proxy in the city of Criciúma, Brazil, as part of an exhibition curated by the Murro collective - Ramayana Lira and Alessandra Brandão. The piece was performed by Brazilian artists Ana Clara Piccolo and Vanessa Biff at Casa da Cultura Neusa Nunes Vieira.