The Beginners Guide To: Hell

The Beginners Guide To: Hell

Hell Party Cz 5
The beginners guide to: Hell

Body modification: a universal art form, practiced for thousands of years. Motivations include; sexual enhancement, a rite of passage, aesthetic reasons, denoting affiliation, trust and loyalty, religious /mystical affiliations, shock value, and self-expression.

After an evening at this year’s Hell Party in Prague I came to a sharp (there were a lot of pointy objects around!) realisation; most of us simply don’t use the blank canvas that is our body to its full potential; in fact do we even really experience our bodies at all?

Walking among the crowds that filled Palmovka's Abaton club last Saturday was like walking down an anti conformist catwalk that would have had Coco Channel turning in her grave. Tattoos in every hue proudly adorned limbs and torsos, if you'd ever wondered what it was like to have a ring here or a stud there, a mere sideways glance was enough to tell you. Eye arresting outfits incorporated a plethora of PVC and padlocks. From punkified tutus to metal thongs, latex saris to gimp masks, towering heels to multi-chromatic dreadlocks all were present, (in)correct and inspired.

But the crux of the party was the dramatic hell show that took place on Abaton’s main stage. The performance took body modification to its hardcore limits, including scarification and suspension. For those of you, who, like me maybe hadn’t thought about the creative possibilities of pain here follows a short introduction;

Scarification: includes branding, cutting, usually using a small blade to make thin or removing larger areas of skin, and other means of permanently marking skinner chemicals.
And? Like a lot of western bodymod art originally linked with S&M culture it has more recently it has broadened its appeal, and is carried out purely aesthetically producing complex and beautiful designs, much like a tattoo. Skin is also much more sensitive after scarification and many people like the feeling of their healed skin. For some it is also described as a ritual or a rite of passage.

Suspension: hmm, there’s no way to make this one sound “nice”... suspending the human body from metal hooks that pierce the skin in any variety of places, shoulder blades, forearms, thighs ect...
And? You only have to witness this once to see the huge rush of adrenalin and endorphins the protagonist/victim experiences, despite the sheer, burning, nerve ripping pain (also apparent)! It can also be a kind of personal challenge, a test of the body, a spiritual experience which can dissolve the schism of body and mind, or assert the mind's superiority over the body.

Why watch it?
Hell party made stunning, crowd awing shows from both these elements. Attention to lighting, set and costume brought an exciting element of spectacle to the procedures. Scarification was carried out in a boudoir, by two girls costumed like gothic-punk ballerinas. Suspension included a Dr Faust figure mixing potions whilst volunteers were suspended in the pose of the Vitruvian Man. But for me the reason the show was so captivating was the intense theatre of emotions crossing the performer’s faces. From terror as they realise the inevitability of the body rocking experience they are about to undertake, to acceptance, to agony to euphoria, it is rare to see someone undergo such emotional drama, so publicly. You find yourself celebrating the ecstasy that ensues once they achieve their goal.

Side effects?
Making you curious to know your own body better...could you undergo the torture...do you really know pain... would you be able to sit still, with your eyes open while someone pierces you cheeks with metal needles, or sews your lips together with wire....?

Why you will be going next year;
Body modification is often compared to ritual in a “primitive” sense and there are certainly a lot of elements of the ritualistic, also the tribal in the whole subculture. At Hell, whilst there were definitely common elements in the corporal rebellion, there was also a huge variety in the way people choose to style and experience their bodies (I haven’t even mentioned the temptations of the fetish stage, the erotic potential of pain). As an anonymous article on body modification hub bmezine.com suggests* through bodymod you “are making the statement that 'This is my body and it is not here for anyone, but myself' ….the individual is taking control of his/her body and sending a strong message of ownership". In a society where the most common form of body modification is probably breast implants (or botox; eternally freezing your face into an expressionless mask of conformity) a trip to Hell might be a very good idea for to get thinking about they ways in which we could really begin to own and explore our bodies.



Check out the photo gallery from this year at www.hellparty.cz

For all modification needs and enquiries: www.Hell.cz