The Torture of the 100 Pieces

by Martin Bladh, Karolina Urbaniak

Martin Bladh and Karolina Urbaniak’s The Torture of the 100 Pieces, is an indirect reference to Georges Bataille’s obsession with a series of photographs depicting the Chinese execution technique Lingchi - “death by a thousand cuts.” Over a period of eight years Martin Bladh’s body was subjected to countless self-inflicted wounds, which have been carefully documented and aestheticized by Karolina Urbaniak’s camera. In this work Bladh’s presence exists primarily through the juxtaposition of Urbaniak’s photographs and accompanying written materials, these include extracts drawn from art criticism, true crime reportage, philosophy, explorations of literature, descriptions of public killings, online discussions of horrific videos, and mediations on the nature of acting. These text extracts share a common theme in tracing the complex and shifting relationships between the creative and the cruel, between art and violence, brutality and culture, and Bladh turns these words inwards, not simply through the process of reading but into his flesh. The close-up photography undertaken by Urbaniak makes the skin the primary focus of the viewer’s gaze; the textures and colours of the flesh resemble landscapes marked by disaster, inadvertently recalling aerial photographs of battlefields.

279 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Texts drawn from various sources indirectly examine the link between creativity/art and violence/cruelty, and are juxtaposed with the elegantly violent photography by Karolina Urbaniak of Martin Bladh’s self-abused body.
A truly singular and always fascinating work, bound in the colours of (white) skin and blood.

[Joseph Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What began as a project influenced by the notorious collection of photographs kept by George Batialle, this book became an incredible study of our fascination as a society with images of violence and injury.

The afore mentioned photographs show the execution of Fu Chou Li in 1905 by Lingchi ('death by a thousand cuts' or 'the lingering death'). A form of execution so devastating that it is said to destroy the ability to meet any religious debt in the afterlife, depriving the victim of reincarnation.

This book begins with an essay by Batialle on his fascination with these photographs, interwoven with Bladh's own experience with a piece of media found on the internet that similarly shocked him (the scene of which I don't really want to describe). It was after re-visiting this clip various times, trying to empathise with the victim, imagine his pain, analysing each individual wound, the idea for this project was found.

The main body of this work is a collection of 100 self-inflicted wounds (cuts, bruises, chemical burns, abrasions, etc) beautifully photographed by Karolina Urbaniak and paired with fragments of text on the subject matter from various sources such as philosophers, authors, newspaper articles, serial killers etc.

Bladh kept a 'wound journal' during this, which I found particularly frightening, as he records his mental state and the sensation of the injuries. 'I try to press the iron against my body, cannot do it, all my reflexes push me away from it, cannot find the will power' - but he soon finds it.

I've previously read a short piece of fiction by Bladh called 'Marty Page' where a man (Martin) tortures his victim (Marty) and journals each day. The horror of this story feels elevated now that I understand to what degree that Bladh truly is both the victim and torturer.