These are two hypnotizing videos that I took last Friday from Jack Thurgar's performance "The Fire Mix [Six Sacred Weeds]" at the Glory Hole group exhibition at Byam Shaw College. Often inspired by subcultures, urban mythology and hidden codes that live beneath our representational society, Thurgar presents his very own version of this spiritual spectacle, by cutting off dried blooms from 6 mystical, legendary herbs and gently rearranging them into a circled ornament. The summer solstice - midsummer night - is celebrated in various countries and usually these events are quite different in their focus on spiritual objects, songs or rituals. The loud exhibition music does not originally belong to the performance.
