Poetry for Chainsaws

In this performance, Allen filled three chainsaws with petrol one by one, incrementally decreasing the volume of fuel added. Surrounded by the rumbling machines, the artist then read from Allan Ginsberg’s (1926-1997) poem ‘Howl’, 1954-55. When the chainsaws ceased, having run out of fuel, the performance concluded. Antagonising and exhausting each other, neither speech nor action outwitted the other; instead, the audience was left with the image of the artist attending to the job of making meaning in a hostile environment.

The work’s meaning developed and shifted through its several restaging’s, testifying to the conceptual longevity of this performance. For the 2006 re-staging at Michael Lett, Allen replaced his usual white PVC clothing with American army uniform, referencing the invasion of Iraq. He notes, “I wanted to link Ginsberg’s vitriolic description of the downfall of the beat generation with the loss of American and Arab lives following 9/11.” – Allen, Skin of Years, p267.

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