TREADMILL by Robbie Trocchia in Santa Cruz

Performance Dates: Friday, Nov. 20 and Saturday, Nov. 21 at 8 pm Exhibition Dates: Saturday, Nov. 21 through Saturday, Dec. 19 Gallery Hours: Saturdays from 1- 5 pm Indexical is pleased to announce TREADMILL, a live performance and movement-activated installation by Robbie Trocchia. TREADMILL is the newest chapter in Trocchia's ongoing body of work drawn from the Biblical story of the Nazirite strongman Samson, a figure known for his superhuman strength and violent hypermasculinity. Since 2023 he has developed the project as AGONISTES, a reference to John Milton's Samson Agonistes, the tragedy of Samson's final days. The project began as an endurance performance in which Samson's lover, Delilah is recast as a dominatrix-cum 1980s fitness instructor. She drives Trocchia's Samson through a punishing exercise regimen that culminates in the cutting of his seven braids. TREADMILL picks up after the betrayal. Blinded and imprisoned, Samson is put to work grinding grain, and the exertion of the earlier performance continues as forced labor. At the center of the work is an interactive treadmill structure inspired by Carl Bloch's 1863 painting of Samson at the mill, activated by Trocchia in a performance that integrates spatial sound, movement, and text. As he grinds, he speaks: a live monologue delivered by a gay man in his mid-thirties, a bitter and horny reckoning with sex, death, and transformation, accompanied by musical arrangements by Andi Kerr. Following the two performances, the installation stays open to the public, inviting guests to take the role of Samson and power the mill. TREADMILL is built on the tensions between the body and structures of power, continuing Trocchia's exploration of desire, hypermasculinity, and violence. Robbie Trocchia is an artist working in performance, sound, video, installation, and writing. His work engages with themes of embodiment, desire, power, and intimacy, often through collaborative processes.