A High Improbability of Death: A Celebration of Suicide
Michael Reinsch

Statement
For "The High Improbability of Death: A Celebration of Suicide," Reinsch will place a noose around his neck, read an epic suicide note poem, and attach helium balloons to the end of the rope in order to lift himself into the air.
Reinsch will engage in an act of performance art in which risks are mitigated. This is not a suicide attempt. 

It would require roughly 7,000 helium filled balloons for Reinsch to be able to achieve any kind of lift. The logistics are beside the point, because this is an exercise in image creation. Art doing what art does best: nothing.

The task at hand is not to bring about his own death, but to create an aesthetic experience that is a confession of his own intimate struggles with being. This performance is an attempt to couple his personal struggle with a wider conversation concerning the devastating effects of suicide on families and society.

A wake is a celebration of death. 

This piece is a one man wake; a reminder of the options open to all of us and the terror and confusion we feel about those who do the unspeakable.

Bio
Michael Reinsch is a multidisciplinary artist and Professor based in Portland, Oregon, where he earned his MFA in Visual Studies from the Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2009. His work incorporates performance and activated sculptural props to explore human connection and disconnection, often through themes of celebration and melancholy. 
www.lurkylurky.com