“On Walthamstow Marshes in North East London, two black umbrellas about ten metres apart are just about visible, nestled in the long grass. Crouched underneath are two performers rubbing knives together. Like Beckettian crickets, they produce a metallic scratching sound,” writes Edward Henderson in The Wire 471, describing Luciano Maggiore and Louise Le Du's performance at an event in July 2022, which the artists now share a recording of here.

Although Maggiore takes influence from Fluxus artists – and, indeed, often performs Fluxus-inspired pieces with his frequent collaborator Louie Rice – he says the celebrations and processions of his birthplace in Sicily are also a significant starting point in his work, and sees no hierarchy between the two.

“It’s [...] reductive to think of performance art as a continuation of a movement from the 60s,” he tells Henderson. “It’s like ignoring human culture in toto… let’s take a Muay Thai fight, for example, a match between two fighters is staged in a square ring where before the fight the two fighters after a blessing from their coaches perform a dance. The fight is accompanied by traditional improvised music that responds to the movement of the fighters and the intensity of the match. We are witnessing a massive happening that has been staged in this form for I don’t know how many hundred years.”

Read Edward Henderson's interview with Luciano Maggiore in full in The Wire 471. Wire subscribers can also read the article online via the digital library. “Walthamstow Marshes, 21 July 2022” was recorded by Rory Salter.