benjamin lundberg torres sánchez

Safety Pin Removal
Performance. (2016)

I pierce my skin with a safety pin, and display the piercing to the public. I describe the piercing process:

     First, I place a safety pin in boiling water for 15 minutes to sterilize it.
     I clean the safety pin with an alcohol prep pad and place it aside.
     Next, I remove a butterfly needle & tube from its sterile packaging,
     and remove the tubing with scissors. I pinch my skin near my collar
     bone, and pierce my skin with the butterfly needle, creating an entry
     and an exit wound. Finally, I insert the tip of the sterilized safety
     pin into the end of the butterfly needle, and push the safety pin
     through the piercing, removing and replacing the butterfly needle
     with the safety pin. Finally, I close the safety pin.

I observe the public’s winces and grimaces. I name and reject their empathetic response. I ask the public to remove the safety pin. The removal requires collaboration, risk, trust, intimacy, and bodily contact.

The action ends when the safety pin is removed.

Safety Pin Removal is a response to the Post-Brexit, Post-Trump Election gesture of wearing a safety pin to indicate allyship with immigrants, refugees, and other marginalized people. The action uses my body as a site to test the limits of allyship with the public.

Performance History:

Re Performed 9 September 2017
on Main Street | North Adam, MA
as part of DownStreet Arts’ TRUST fest
curated by Michelle M. Daly

Re Performed 24 June 2017
at the Museum of the Moving Image
as part of BackLot Art Festival
curated by Tina Stipanovic

Performed 20 November 2016
at the AS220 Blackbox
as part of El Pique: Political performances & reflections
convened by Shey Rivera