GORGO is a performance dedicated to the mythic figure of Medusa, the Gorgon – GORGO, whose decapitation as well as the subsequent appropriation as decoration for shields, armor, gables, plates, cups, and buttons can be interpreted as a violent act of colonial patriarchy.
Using formulas from folktale and myth, such as resurrection after initiation and the arming of the hero, GORGO rests on the premise the Medusa’s dismembered body is made whole again, she is born again. In the performance and video Raščić, embodies the character of the GORGO, and dons a copper armor that is at the same time an audio instrument. GORGO’S armor is fabricated by the sole female coppersmith in Bosnia, Nermina Beba Alić, breaking with the patrilineal tradition of this craft. Rascic’s performance brings the Medusa, with all her meta-baggage, into the present; her body/armour evokes a “cyborg in becoming” and visually codes her as the mythic warrior.
However, GORGO does not attack, but acts as a warning and a protector, reclaiming her magical apotropaic role.
