The man asks if I have a hurt, physical or emotional, that needs soothing. He kisses the spot on my ear lobe with his red stained lips. For the rest of the day, I carry the mark around with me, a reminder of the hurt but also the healing. This is River Lin’s Kiss it Better, one of more than 50 performances at this year’s Buzzcut.
For diversity and generosity of spirit, there is no festival so encompassing and welcoming as Buzzcut. Now in its fourth year, it brings audiences and artists together for all kinds of free events, from one-on-one performances to participatory work, and from fleeting shared moments to longer shows and installations.
For Race Cards, Selina Thompson devotes 12 hours to writing questions around race on postcards and sticking them on the wall. As with many of the shows at the festival, it involves an exchange: you read the questions and are invited to supply your own answers. Number 136 is: “Did you watch and enjoy The Help?” Number 73 is “I know that you are black, but why is that my fault?” From the writing on the walls, you can see how a conversation has started.
This is a festival that looks beyond money for value: even the rubbish it generates is recycled throughout like an ongoing installation. In Mira Fuchs, Melanie Jame Wolf exposes the trade of the lap dance, counts its costs and reinvents it as an intimate gift. Janice Parker’s exquisitely low-key What Would Richard Do? considers where inspiration comes from and gently and generously plays homage to those who have influenced her, looking back but also forwards to a rising generation. Parker’s piece encompasses the spirit of Buzzcut where old and young, the established and those starting out are placed side by side. As they watch and learn from each other, you can see the sparks fly.
• Until 22 March. Venue: Pearce Institute, Glasgow.
