A new multimedia composition by one-half NelSon
The Exorcism of Ah!Baloney is a multimedia performance that abstracts the traditions of Drag, Burlesque and performance art, blurring their boundaries to unravel and expose the lifespan of Ah!Baloney. Traced with glitches, the work is always fragmented, always reaching for something beyond its grasp. Through this process of creation, I realized that it was I who had been infested by Ah!Baloney—and this marks the end of her possession of my flesh.
Presented in three fluid acts, the work takes the form of ceremony—an exorcism that seeks to purge all notions of gender through performance, video, and sound. It serves as a love letter to imperfection, rejecting the sheen of perfection in favor of the malfunction, where meaning and transformation emerge.
This composition is anti-retrospective, reaching into my archives to weave fragments of art, music and media from over two decades of creation and collaboration. Yet, it refuses to be defined or confined by my past.
The exorcism is an understanding—a realization of beauty in dissonance and a refusal of finality.
Funding is currently being built for a 2025 production featuring an all-new cast of PDX performers. Who will Ah!Baloney possess next?