Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #560

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Baubles Filled With Bodily Fluids - Most Bizarre Christmas Tree
By Lauren Davidson
Baubles filled with bodily fluids, including urine, blood and semen, are hanging from a bizarre Christmas tree
in Grimsby town centre.
The "gross" deco- rations, which also include a "deconstructed Christmas din- ner", are on dis-
play in the win- dow of an art gallery in Victoria Street. But while the exhibition may shock some, the artists behind it hope it will encourage people to have "a bit of a giggle".
Dale Wells and Darren Neave, who run the Turntable Gallery, had already upended Christmas tradi-
tions by putting up decorations in July. But their lat- est stunt, which began on Saturday, is arguably their weirdest yet.
"We've had a Christmas show prior to this, in the summer, so it's our second Christmas win- dow of the year and we felt we had to push the boat out a bit,"
Dale said. "Those hollow plastic baubles that you see cropping up everywhere that people fill with glitter and that kind of thing - they scream for something to be done with them.
"What we decided to do is think of something a bit grosser that we could fill them with. There's a layer of blood in
one. But then we thought, there's something that can be done with this, so we've come up with recipes, almost, and there's anoth- er one with urine, wine, glitter and food colouring, and then there's one with semen."
Other baubles include Marmite, pork mince, wine and cream for treating piles. "We've got one with Anusol [haemorrhoids cream], aniseed and glitter; and one with the con- tents of the top shelf of our local magazine shop," Dale added.
The pair have form on using bodily fluids. Their "Christmas" exhi- bition in July, called Winter Wonderlandfill, featured bottles of urine among bins of plastic toys, in a comment on consumer culture and the condi- tions faced by delivery drivers.
When asked what the "message" was this time around, Dale said they simply want- ed to "have a bit of fun" and "go a bit crazy".
Now, members of the public are being encouraged to make their own bauble for the tree. Dale said they hoped to "build up a bit of a community" around the Christmas tree, with people asked to bring in their own artsy, cre- ative or simply downright gross baubles.
"I think it'd be quite nice. If any- body wanted to make their own baubles for us, we can hang them on the tree. The more the merrier! There's no limits to what people can put in the baubles - you've seen what we've put in them."
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine