Non-Invasive. By Jonathan Magat. Directed by Jonathan Magat.

Northwestern University Department of Performance Studies

Performance Sensorium. Chicago, Illinois. February 9, 2015.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines are medical
devices that produce a visual picture of abnormal or diseased
tissue in a body. In a process that can take anywhere from five
minutes to two hours, patients lie down in the machine while their
body is scanned in great details with a unique ray that produces
extremely detailed pictures. The benefit of this, often time consuming,
procedure is an advantage on foreseeing possible medical
complications in in virtually all internal structures of the body. Jonathan
Magat work adapts this procedure in Non-Invasive and explores the
aural experience one submits to in those countless minutes of being
alone and inside the MRI machine.
Magat works to bring to the forefront the aural experience of the
MRI machine. Though the end result is an image, the method of
producing that image is decorated with mechanical pings. This
performance isolates this sonic play and attempts to reveal the rhythm
of time in the noise and silence, the affect on the individual and the
awareness of ones own bodily noises that become mixed into this
space of solitude and timelessness. Magat ask in his artist statement,
What else resonates beyond the resonance in Magnetic Resonance
Imaging.
The performance begins with the audience directed to sit in one
of the chairs that are positioned in two columns and six rows. All of the
chairs are facing up stage towards a blank blackboard. Some of the
audience can be heard making comments of the similarity to a
rollercoaster and they eagerly find an ideal person with whom to
enjoy the ride. The lights are turned off. The room is pitch black and
the person sitting next to me becomes invisible with only the sound of
their breathing or feel of their movements confirming they are still
there. The feeling of aloneness suddenly begins to creep into my
experience and I wait for the next cue. A musical jingle suddenly
begins over the speakers similar to a news report about to begin. A
man with a deep and authoritative voice excited of the scientific news
he brings begins to speak over the music.
MRIis a non-invasive and radiation free medical imaging
technique. He goes on to describe MRIs ability to capture internal
structures and the ways in which it is complimentary to other medical
machines such as ultrasounds. Next, he describes what I will do when
experiencing an MRI. First, you will lie on a table which will move
you may experience the use of a specific coilclosely to the region of
your body to be diagnosed. The audience did not have this coil, and
we were not lying down, but the thick darkness felt as if I were shut off

to the world in a way similar to what I imaging being inside this

machine would feel. The speaker ends his minute sells pitch, This
phenomena is absolutely painless, although it is noisy.
Immediately, a vibrating mechanical noise sounds loudly over
the speakers. It sounds like a sewing machine attempting to needle a
counter top. It is repetitive and quickly becomes an aural irritation. The
pitch of the noise switches from high to low every but there are no
pauses between the changes. The silence comes after about pitch
changes but does not last long. The sound comes back again and the
needling sound is faster in pace. This segment is particularly long. It
is during this time that I begin to wonder when this will be over with. I
reflect on the speakers comments of it being painless and how
incorrect that is. This noise is very painless to my ears. It hurts! To add
to that, I am not sure when this noise will end so now I have
anticipation and pain happening simultaneously. I have forgotten that
there are people around me. Closing my eyes only makes the noise
louder so I stare blankly in front of me. My ears are invaded with this
inhumane sound. This procedure is anything but non-invasive for me.
This noise continues for five minutes, which is the least amount
of time an actual MRI procedure last. There is to easy transition at the
end. The last silent in now unique and by that point I am expecting it to
prelude another sit of jarring mechanical sounds that I have now
become body numb and hyperaware to. I am made aware that it is
over when the lights are turned one. People get up slowly form their
sits, and seem to be a bit dizzy. No one talks for the first minute, as
everyone seems to try and reorient their self and recalibrate their
hearing.
Magats performance does well with highlighting the private
aural experience a person undergoes for the sake of their health. Add
to that, in a real MRI machine one is both lying down and instructed
not to move or the process will restart. It would have been torture and
maddening to restart this performance every time anyone in the
audience moved. This performance serves will for demonstrating how
sound can be both painful and intrusive. Indeed, my awareness of my
heart rate was noticeable when the performance was over. I could not
imagine leaving that procedure with also the uncertainty of a
diagnosis.

BONNIE BRIGHT
Northwestern University, Anthropology