HISTORY of the
The Mutation Parlour began as a physical place, where physical mutations (tattooing, piercing and other body arts) were undergone, and strange artwork (sculpture, collage, puppetry, painting, drawing, video, photography) was created.
Mutation Parlour became a musical and theatrical endeavour, originally a 'band' which used the place as its 'Change Room', where performers mutated themselves/ each other before going onstage. For our first show I shaved my head but for two horns sculpted from beeswax and hair. For our second show I had eagle wings sutured into my shoulder-blades (see THE MUTATION EN-CYCLOPS-EDIA).
The original place called the Mutation Parlour was razed to the ground by 'developers' and the band became their mobile heirs.
As a musical/theatrical venture, Mutation Parlour has evolved from what was basically a rock band (albeit a very strange one, incorporating elements of classical, thrash and world music) into a more amorphous collective of musicians/soundsculptors, an ever-expanding and diversifying chaos orchestra which blends ancient instruments with modern technological and techno-illogical soundscapes. Metamorphic Ritual Theatre group - who weave together threads of different ancient mythologies and universal magical symbols - have merged with Mutation Parlour to create a balance of visual and aural weirdness, with physical mutations and body arts still a major element of live performances.
In the second and third 'Labyrinths' created by The Order of Chaos - a physical installation/ energy matrix housing Metamorphic Ritual Theatre, constructed at the D.T.E. ConFest (Moama, NSW, Australia) - the Mutation Parlour again became a place, a chamber of transformation at the crossroads between the outer mazes and the inner spiral/ medicine wheel of the Labyrinth. Thus located, it doubled as a parlour for the transformation of initiates along their journeys, and as a 'Change Room' and backstage for performers/ magicians.
All the elemental paths -fire/energy, air/space, earth/mass and water/time- intersected at the Mutation Parlour crossroads. The gates of the parlour were guarded by the mutant dog-boy, and in-it-i-ates could only enter if they received a doorstamp -a choice of different runes were offered, to be branded on the body of the initiate in their desired anatomical location. Within, further mutations were offered and performed by the experienced surgeons/ hosts Venom and Revere if the initiate so desired, while the metaphysical derivations/ imp-lic-ations of the physical changes were discussed, mutating the mind of the initiate with the inner metamorphosis ofwhich their outer metamorphosis was a metaphor for...
The Mutation Parlour was on the periphery of the inner spirals, four layered elemental spins in to the womblike centre, where in-it-i-ates faced the Minotaur (their shadows/ primal selves), and Death, in the metal domed arena.
On the last night of the Labyrinth cycle, I used the Change Room as a major axis-point for personal transformation. On my first visit I had snakeskins stitched to my arms for a caduceus dance in the finale in the dome; my second operation for the evening was a hermaphroditic belly-brand which caused my navel to retract about 4 centimetres into my stomach (see THE MUTATION EN-CYCLOPS-EDIA).
The Mutation Parlour was the second gate in the Labyrinth. Its arches were the cervix. It sat at the end/beginning of the Spirit path/vagina, throughwhich in-it-i-ates would be reborn into the festival.
Now this new Virtual Mutation Parlour sits as a Crossroads in the vast virtual labyrinth of the internet, the world-wide web.
Mutation Parlour C.D. 'THANATEROS' -Lyrics and text from the diverse first C.D. of MUTATION PARLOUR the band, beautifully illustrated by several graphic artists.
MUTATION MANIFESTO [now with additional Part II -'MUTATION & TECHNOLOGY -THE POST-HUMAN']
MUTATION PARLOUR HOMEPAGE
(c) Orryelle 1998