The second edition of X Platform continued, on October 24th and 25th, the series of events under the curatorial concept ”Body and limit”, with Elana Katz’s performance and artist talk on Gua sha.

The artist has been trained in “Gua sha”: (Chinese: 刮痧; pinyin: guā shā) a traditional Chinese medical treatment which releases unhealthy elements from injured areas of the body and stimulates blood flow. The practice is referred to as “spooning” by English speakers.

A “spooning” treatment is applied to the body of the artist, and through this action areas of inflammation, poor circulation, and toxicity are discovered. The holistic medical method is used to heal these internal imbalances of the body. As this practice results in a visual effect on the skin that resembles bruising, the artist creates the illusion of suffering, yet does not suffer, creates the illusion of injury, yet in fact treats injury.

Body of Work is a performance that deals with social perceptions of paradoxical practices of hurting and healing the body, as well as the value of physical pain in the medium of performance art.