Public Criticism
- September 30th, 2011
- Posted in Competition . Photo
- By Guest Writer
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In the world of suspension there are many random articles, videos, and blogs that contain information about our art form. Of those, none are truly dedicated specifically to body suspension. So, until we get our own Fox News, here at Hook Life will do our best to remain “fair and balanced.” So without further ado, today we present to you an article criticizing Hook Life.
Cere Coichetti – When I first saw the contest being posted on Hook Life, my first reaction was one of disbelief. Here was a contest, created and put forth by people in the industry who place safety and professionalism in high regard, that blatantly encourages illegal acts (regardless of what the fine print says); I was immediately against it from the start.
The reasoning is simple. By it’s very nature, a guerrilla suspension as put forth by the criteria contains 2 things (which I’ll go into), illegality and negative public perception. According to Hook Life, a guerrilla suspension is “the act of spontaneous, surprise performances in unlikely public spaces to an unsuspecting audience”. Lets put that in layman’s terms. It’s people climbing public structures, attaching rigging to public structures, and then in a public space committing an act that the public thinks of as indecent. So not only are we committing criminal acts (which also might I add in a post 9/11 world, climbing public structures and attaching rigging is even MORE of a bad idea) but we are foisting suspension (which is already seen as sick by most of society) onto an audience that doesn’t want to see it. Because that’s what we need; families and the general public who already have a negative opinion of us being FORCED to watch, forcing their children to watch something they consider indecent. Now the idea has been brought up to get “permits” so it’s no longer illegal. At this point you have now switched from a guerrilla suspension to a performance piece, something vastly different.
As you can see, I’m somewhat not too keen on the idea of guerrilla suspensions as is. But what’s worse then that is taking this idea and saying “do the biggest and baddest one in order to win a prize and fame.” Now we have a whole community that is already on the fringe of society and looked upon as outcasts being told to take illegal acts into public view an make them as extravagant as possible. It’s a recipe for disaster.
It’s been pointed out that public response to what we do is inevitable. Eventually the public will know about suspension as it keeps growing in popularity. I agree. I for one, however, would like that when the time comes for people to be exposed to our community that they see us as responsible professionals and not as criminals with no regard for society in general.
This contest has the ability to absolutely damage public perception of us as a whole and can absolutely lead to not only imprisonment for our acts but new legislation being written expressly outlawing what we do as has been done before. Lets not take steps backward as a community.
These are my personal opinions, that may or may not be shared by the members of my suspension group.
Cere Coichetti
Rites of Passage
New York City, NY
Our first reaction when this blog was submitted was to include a rebuttal and to share reasoning for the contest. However, we felt that it diluted his points and decided to run the article as is to hear what the community has to say.
I wish i had your way with words Cere. I absolutely and completely agree with you and all end every aspect of what you said. Still, I am gonna do it anyway :p I am done with being the suspension police. WHEN SUSPENSION IS OUTLAWED, ONLY OUTLAWS WILL SUSPEND. (I have been an outlaw for at least thirty years. Why stop now.)
I am ambivalent. i think its stupid, but in may ways, it’s suspension going back to its roots as something extreme rather than a mundane ritual to replace the full sleeve tattoo.
anyways, i will not partake. I hardly ever do suspensions anyway
The result will come one day anyway and I for one would love to suspend to an unexpecting audience, I will happily take the risk of getting arrested and punished for it. If you don’t wanna watch, look away, don’t like the idea or contest, don’t join it, don’t compete. But I am also careless regards to what people will think or feel about what Im doing, I just want them to see it, make a choice, make them think, make them remember, make them question (for once)!
Fantastic article and I totally agree. We are still entering but are checking with police before we do anything. This may limit any entry we have to being less “extreme” than another teams but legality is a big deal.
When I first saw the contest I immediately said, “Well this will end badly.” However after some more thought and time I’m not so sure. If done well, and right I don’t see it being damaging. Aka, don’t incite the Police to action. Don’t be dicks. Plan accordingly, and think before you act. I know some folks will ignore/disagree with a lot of that. Personally I have one in mind. I’m not sure it will be happening, but I think I’ve met almost all of my own guidelines with the idea. I just have to check one or two legal factors and then the logistics of pulling it off.
I agree with Cere on this. I have to many conflicting feelings when it comes to this competition. I like all the ideas behind it and seeing how exposed you can get and how creative but forcing others that don’t want to see it is wrong. ROP BBQ is no longer allowed at the Pittsfield state forest because a family called in to some state reps or some crap and asked us to never come back. Again I think the competition is a awesome idea but concealing it would be better off. However that takes away it purpose of the competition. The “I don’t care” attitude doesn’t really help our community. Its like saying “I don’t care if I have tattoos on my hands and face this awesome job should just hire me anyways”. We are not fully excepted yet and we need to face facts that forcing it and not caring is not going to get us excepted. However, giving it the light touch as we have over the years does help. Ten years ago you wouldn’t have seen anybody with tattoos on their forearms working at Walmart, a Pharmacy, or a bank. As the years go on we see more and more of this because people are learning that what we do with our bodies doesn’t change who we are.
I can only agree that this has every potential to have a negative effect on what we have all worked so hard to bring a positive light to.
Man, this is a tough one for me. I have to acknowledge the draw of having a little illegal fun and pulling together something amazing to show everyone.
But times being what they are and suspension more and more in the public eye, the impact of negative publicity could be bad for us all.
The thought of suspension going back to being an underground thing is very appealing. And yes, I have been on the news and in the local paper numerous times, so I realize my part in the blame of it being out there. But it seems as if there’s no turning back from that now, barring something that forces us back underground. This contest has the potential, however likely or unlikely it may be, to be that catalyst.
The jury in my head is still out on this one. Hope I didn’t make it any harder of a decision.
Guerrilla Suspension is one of those “not so brilliant ideas that can turn out to be fun” and I’m ok with that.
The bad part is “Yeah, go outside and do the worst thing ever, so you’ll win prizes and fame”. That’s not just a bad idea, that’s being bad people. There are youngsters out there that would love to fuck up their lives and themselves just to be “famous” for their 15 minutes. And the fact that you don’t actually care about young guys doing stupid things is the same fact that leads common people to think that tattooed people are all criminals and that body suspension is just sick. They just don’t care enough.
Cere makes some good points, and I think this discussion is important. As many of you know, over here things are quite different, and I really don’t think Guerrilla suspensions in Oslo would cause any fuzz. WoD is likely to participate. I have thought of the possibility to get permits, and I think this is where we can solve the problem (at least some of it). Do we have to be so rigid that we can’t redefine a term (Guerrilla suspension) to suit our purpose?
I see the competition as a means to provoke creativity, and as I understand it that is the main intent. Forcing our expression on unexpecting audiences? I don’t think it hold water. We’re forced to look at commercials and advertisement all the time. Public art is there, in the public, whether or not you like it. Do you have freedom to express art in the states? I think a twist in the competition, where you get +points for getting permits could be way to limit damage. The goal here is not that it should be illegal and get people in trouble, the goal is to put suspension on display in public in creative ways. It is already said that -points are given for bad rigging, that should include rude behavior. We are all responsible for our actions, nobody really wants to get in trouble, none of us wants suspension to be viewed badly…
Let’s behave and compete as responsible adults.
Well said Cere and Havve.
I agree with Cere to a high degree, and am hesitant to say anything, as most of the points above have already addressed everything.
One thing that is stinging in the back of my mind is a reminder of how I got into suspension and the group of people I grew with into becoming a practitioner. Before SusCons and conventions and travelling to work with other crews, and them coming to work with us, there was a bunch of kids in NYC that were doing it just because they could. We loved the experience, we loved each other as family, and man were we young.
Our stories were all fucked up, coming from really questionable backgrounds. The way we suspended and pulled were directly reflective of that – it was partially wild and animalistic, and in that sense was sort of ritualistic. The concept of hanging from trees in parks, off construction trussing on top of skyscrapers, in industrial warehouses, and what have you was kind of normal to us. Fuck the system, fuck the law, and in the words of a great, amazing person named Chuck, we were all *Fed Up!*
So to me guerilla suspension always has a place, and I can’t see it stopping. But I think that using the word ‘competition’ in the same sentence kind of goes against what we are doing. I also think this is hypocritical, as many of us have already contributed (as Mike Coons has mentioned already) through this medium to making it more public.
Personally, I think it is inevitable for somebody somewhere to eventually fuck something up for the lot of us; I hate to be a pessimist, but this is the general way of things. I just hope it’s not due to this competition, because it truly is a great way to push some creativity out there. aaand, that’s my $0.02.
I agree with Cere.
I was actually intrigued by the chance for thrill and the challenge of creating art through suspension and photography…
Then I had a thought about the cameras monitoring almost every corner of this city and the consequences it would have to the activities we perform in those already borderline events that welcome us.
I didn’t even let my local peers know about this competition.
I’d like to add, my concerns aren’t with what Havve or a few other people are discussing, doing beautiful artistic work. My problem is that the people who will take time to get permits and do it artistically (which if you apply for a permit it’s no longer a SPONTANEOUS performance in front of an UNSUSPECTING crowd) aren’t the majority of the suspension scene.
I’m worried about everyone else who will commit illegal acts and flaunt it in public view.
I have to say I am really glad that Cere stood up and wrote something publicly like this. I was considering writing something myself but didn’t want to piss on anyones…. pissing contest. That’s what it is isn’t it?
I am so very against suspension and competition being in the same sentence. The whole idea of suspension + competition is egotistical, unnecessary and a giant step back in regards to our egos and how we all treat suspension now days. Isn’t the new collective concious to be more about safety, community and respect other than the ‘fuck yeah I did ….!’ (ie. fuck yeah look how big my dick is) Not to mention dangerous when you think about the problem already faced with unqualified, inexperienced and unprepared suspension ‘crews’ that have already caused damage to this underground practice, give a crew with that mentality an opportunity to piss in a suspension pissing contest…. we know that is an instigator for trouble.
And this wasn’t even about the most creative or beautiful suspension, it’s about who can do the most crazy shit which means stunts, and these kinds of things are self propelling. Plus people are pretty stupid when you add ego to the mix, and we know this, so why is this even happening?
Where to begin? I’ll tell you how I fell in love with suspension. In 2003 I attended a BME BBQ in Dallas, TX. Across the street from the bar was a tree. Some guys decided to spontaneously and publicly suspend from that tree. I was mesmerized and intrigued. I knew that was something I HAD to do. Due to some personal issues it was a few years before I was able but that day and THOSE GUERILLA SUSPENSIONS completely changed my life. I am a stronger, better person because of guerilla suspension.
Some may say “yes, your life was changed for the better but what about all those people who were watch and were horrified?”. Well, here’s the thing …. they weren’t forced. They could have looked away or walked away. There was no Clockwork Orange type set up. Anyone who actually watched chose to.
As for the contest: I think that most people who participate will do it intelligently and responsibly. However, there are two groups that concern me. The first is the people who don’t have enough knowledge to pull it off and/or are impetuous and won’t think things through. The other is people who will intentionally push things too far with the express purpose of getting people hurt or arrested and with a heart to damage suspension as we know it.
That picture is not of a guerilla suspension. It was in someone’s backyard and the cop was super nice and posing for pictures with everybody.
It wasn’t a guerrilla suspension no, it was a private and backyard gathering. Yet the cops were called none-the-less. We were lucky that the police were in fact very laid back about the whole thing. Both sets of police that showed up at different times were. Had this been in a much more public and open event, it would have been a different story.
The more public and guerrilla like suspension that is done, there is always some possible risk of other people causing harm to themselves or another just by the event causing enough of a distraction or possible disturbance.
we have had mixed feelings about the competition, but we have done mostly ‘guerilla’ suspension anyhow until recently. we have hung in public parks mostly and never have we had issues with anyone criticizing us, or having police intervention. Actually, the only time the cops actually showed up to disrupt things, were when we were hanging a friend on private property, somewhat hidden from public view, and yet the neighbors called 9-1-1, claiming we were hanging someone KKK style in the yard…
our current favorite spot to suspend is either the glowing fish exhibit, which we have had police come up to us and ask us what we were doing, and i have explained that we were simply doing a photo shoot, and that we were just going to take maybe 15 minutes, and that we would would not destroy, pollute, tag, or anything else that would cause them to not want us there. we also usually hang over a train yard, in which dozens of people walk by non stop, and some even stop to take pictures, yet there has never been an issue.
i say, as long as no one is being intentionally destructive, let people do what they want, because whether for competition, fun, or glory, they will do it anyway. if someone is unsafe, they will not only be unsafe while hanging off a random building, but it will give them an opportunity for feedback and exposure to other peoples ideas.
there is so much focus on how the outside world will view us negatively. the contest is about doing intricate, spontaneous, SAFE, suspensions. if done right is it such a hard push of the imagination to even think that the public may want to actually see more? or that we will have positive feedback from the world? there will always be the one or two people who don’t like it, but what of the multitudes of people who do? every time i’m at a public suspension there are crowds of people who come watch. at a recent suspension wedding we had a baseball game stop so everyone could come watch. no one panicked. no one called the cops. the groom’s mother put on a blindfold so she didn’t have to watch and that was the least positive reaction there.
how else are you going to open people’s eyes about suspension if you hide it in a dark corner?
legality be damned. they didn’t consult us when they made laws and if we’re not breaking anything or causing a hazard i don’t see why they should have a say in what we do on PUBLIC property. in texas it’s still illegal to leave your horse outside a bank untied. maybe some laws are a bit outdated?
I wonder is tightrope walkers around the world were up in arms about this? Somehow I doubt it.
as much as I love the idea of all of this and part of me wants to do things like this I must say its bad for the big picture. In missouri we had a case like this that almost went to the lawmakers. it only took one man to say he didnt like what he and his kids saw that almost shut down legal suspensions in the state. Think about what you wanna do before you do them