Miles Greenberg’s Sebastian

At the Palazzo Malipiero, Miles Greenberg - artist and son of fellow member Phoebe Greenberg - engaged in another of his durational, physically intense performances that explore the boundaries of the human body, endurance, and identity. His work often combines movement, sculpture, and time-based installations to create immersive experiences that challenge perceptions of race, gender, and the self, and this iteration was no different.

Assuming the physical markers of Saint Sebastian, namely five silver arrows piercing his back and abdomen, Miles stood barefoot on a rotating stone for eight hours while onlookers entered and left, feeling a vicarious strain on themselves and witnessing the juxtaposition between the arrows and his flesh, between the scene within and the canal without. Throughout the performance, cane sugar dripped down onto the artist, progressively dissolving the black pigment that coated him.

At the end of the performance, Phoebe entered and removed the arrows from her son’s body, a physical testament to the bond between mother and son.