Happy Slap

Performance made on a mobile phone, for viewing on small screens/handheld devices

The work was devised in part as a response to the ‘Happy Slapping’ craze that was sweeping the UK in the mid 2000’s. ‘Happy Slapping’ is a strange phenomenon that has emerged as a result of the flood of cheap mobile phones with cameras. Part Jackass, part slapstick, the action is usually relatively harmless but there is a darker side to this craze. Happy Slapping has been a feature in both rape and murder cases and as such it is now considered by some as encouraging violent tendencies.

‘Happy Slap’ is a little dark, private performance in which I ‘slap my self silly’. The music playing over the top of the work is ‘Is This Love’ from the cartoon version of Cinderella to suggest perhaps that this is an enactment of perverse self-love/violence.

Duration 2.5 minutes