Producing some of the most compelling, shocking, sexy and at times, deliciously disturbing performance and video art of recent years, Poland-based artistic group Suka Off have been key players in the underground vaults of leftfield art since 1995. Bizarremag.com caught up with two of its founding members, Sylvia and Piotr, to talk about S&M, horror films and confusing the critics...

Do you see your work as 'punk art'?

We were originally strongly influenced by the industrial/punk subculture, and performed in squats or cellars. But this was 12 years ago. With time our work has become more subtle in the visual matter - more minimalist and clean. Today we are definitely not interested in rebellion and such open revolt against social mechanisms.

Did you struggle to find acceptance with your early audiences especially, if it was unlike anything they had seen before?

Audiences have always been divided between loving and loathing us. It's often a lack of understanding. Our public is not familiar with the language of the modern body art, unable to understand their own physiology and sexuality. But there are also people that like all our work. We don't like to talk too much, we don't want to analyse, we just give our public the intensity of experience in its aesthetical and emotional complexity.

What sort of reactions do you get from your audiences?

We always forewarn people about elements of nudity, violence and bleeding. Some people have fainted during our performances. They couldn't fight their natural reactions to blood and needles. But that's the risk you take when you come to see body art.

We've have had some problems with people who take what we do on stage literally. One man in Geneva became aggressive during the 'Flesh Camp' performance [features concentration camp metaphors], because he believed that Piotr was promoting Nazism and violence againt women.

Do you receive much citicism from press?

An article in a tabloid magazine once said our performance featured pissing, teeth extraction and lesbian sex. We were subsequently accused of attacking the audience with strong pornographic images, real violence, vulgarisms and also of propagating sexual deviations and practising sadism and coprophagy. All these accusations were of course ridiculous, that's why no complaints ever reach court!

Is shocking your audience an aim?

No, it is not our goal to shock people. There are easy ways to to do that, especially with use of political or religious symbols, but it doesn't interest us. We go as far as we feel we need to, to achieve a certain image that moves us. The audience's reaction has no influence on our work and decisions.

We are never 'programming' our performances to receive a certain reaction. We create images which are some sort of projection of our own experiences as well as aesthetical and emotional needs. Our work becomes a very personal confession - during the performance we let the public look inside our minds.

Nudity, S&M, body art and images of fetish are obviously core visual themes. Are you reflecting your own desires? Indeed, how important is sex in your art?

Just as much as it is important in human life. Sexual needs and fears determine most human actions. And human nature as well as human civilisation were always the centre of our interests and our art.

So are any fetishes taboo?

All of them! [Laughs] We think that everyone should answer this question for themselves. We don't feel the need to talk about our fetishes. They're easy to find in our works.

You use fluids and substances a great deal...

We use physiological fluids as a substitute of paint. Like the impressionists used colour to show emotions, we use substances coming out of the body. Every substance has different colour and thickness. Most of the time they cause fear or disgust. Why? Physiological fluids transfer data and genetic code, viruses etc... They are not representing something univocally good or evil. Is the murderer's blood evil?

We're not interested in the religious meaning of fluids. We know that many viewers will read these symbols like that. That's why we also use synthetic substances that change their property - liquid latex, silicone, acryl. Using them helps to avoid univocal interpretation.

Several of your films have themes of love, which makes an interesting juxtaposition with the S&M imagery. Is love dirty?

Of course not. As a matter of fact, in our work we often try to show the human need of love, need of felling the proximity of other's body, of feeling safe. But we think that the evolution in visualising positive feelings, good emotions, has come to an abrupt halt. What you can see as far as this subject is concerned is rather primitive. In our times showing violence is much easier task for an artist, and a lot much more attractive. People are accustomed with violence that surrounds them, they know how to express it and read it easily.

Are you trying to blur boundaries between horror and sex/S&M? The video White Blood has an almost 'snuff movie' look or the sensation that you're witnessing something evil, with its CCTV camera...

(Piotr:) I have never seen a 'snuff movie', so I can't compare it with my work. I used the CCTV camera look to experiment with the form. A simple, geometrical space needed a simple recording device. I'm interested in deformations and the relations with space resulting from different forms of image capture. In my work I often use old video recorders and VHS cameras. I experiment with my video mixer to get this unique quality.

I have never seen a film concentrated on body, in which the form and the contents would be treated equally to achive a kind of 'organic' feel.. Maybe Andrew Blake did it a few times. My intention is not to shock or scare anyone. I want the form to evoke as many emotions in the viewer as the plot. The dirt and deformation are associated with horror, forbidden and violent sex. These are the features of modern iconography. I can't pretend that it doesn't exist.

Are horror films an inspiration?

We have always liked horror films (but not monster movies) and have seen so many that their influence on our art is inevitable. In our earlier works we were very much inspired by the work of Shinya Tsukamoto (especially the film Tetsuo).

Right now we are using some of the imagery from films like The Ring and The Grudge (the Japanese versions, of course) ñ because they're visually attractive and because as symbols they are readable for the audience. The fear and danger in modern Asian horror cinema is concentrated on humans, not monsters. Very important are the basic emotions and the influence that the developing technology has on human body. Also various fluids are often used in these films. In modern western culture we're lacking of images referring to the fears evoked by the profane aspect of life. Medieval imagery is still very strong.

WATCH SUKA OFF VIDEOS BELOW:
'Bad Dreams' (Unofficial Music Video for DJ Krush)
'H.E.X.' (Music Video for Polish Band [VZ])

See Suka Off perform on the Friday and Saturday nights at the Torture Garden Birthdbay Ball in London, May 18-19.