Modern Panic V: A world of H.R. Giger, spunking unicorns and deeply unsettling puppets

Preview The last invite to pop into my inbox was for a night playing the new Pokémon trading card game Pokémon TCG: XY – Phantom Forces, so imagine my surprise to find a summons for something as highbrow as the new Guerrilla Zoo exhibition.

My previous forays into performance art were during the early '90s, born from an obsession with books such as Modern Primitives, Pranks and Industrial Culture Handbook. I couldn’t wait to see how this provocative art form might have progressed.

Guerrilla Zoo boasts a revolving collective of artists, musicians and performers and it tries to provide a platform for new talent. In the tradition of the great Leigh Bowery, it specialises in promoting experiential environments, live art and immersive theatre.

After finding out that the Modern Panic V event (the "V" denoting that it is now in its fifth year) was taking place in Hackney, I was scared I might end up in a scenario similar to Marina Abromovich’s piece RHYTHM 0 from 1974, where a riot ensued and she ended up with a gun held to her head. But upon arriving at the Apiary Studios, I was instantly amused and pacified by a pop-up table selling plushy Prozac and felted knives. Quickly making my way to the bar, I was disappointed by the lack of free alcohol, surely a first (ed: thirst?) for a private view!

A Prozac you can cuddle at night. Bless. Image credit: Lucy Orr

The main exhibition space displayed several thought-provoking, large-scale pieces, including a man with a balloon for a head by Ann Marie Johnson and a fantastically detailed, illustrated insect specimen cabinet by Freyja Dean.

Unfortunately, as I meandered around there seemed to be an abundance of Hirst derivative taxidermy pieces. I find this artistic fetishism for animal carcasses far too much like the nasty, last gasp of the aristocratic fixation with hunting foxes.

Alas, before I was able jump on my species-ism soap box, there was a call for "The Twice Shy Peep Show", introduced by a David Devant lookalike MC, whose voice was accompanied by a soundtrack surely composed by Boards of Canada.

Events initially took a Jimmy Savileian turn, with members of the audience encouraged to caress the breasts and vagina of a uncomfortably young-looking, life-sized Japanese Bunraku puppet controlled by three puppeteers. Luckily, their final performance of the night was less unsettling: cabaret exploring the feminine tropes of beauty and death, the puppet being replaced by a dancing skeleton.

Nothing like a relaxing skeleton dance after an evening with creepy puppets. Image credt: Lucy Orr

The live art continued with a musical composition by William Frampton, a University of Goldsmiths' graduate, along with some aerobic experimental dance which, rather than holding my attention, just made me wistful for the next performance of La la la Human Steps.

Fighting past a contingent of Goldsmiths' girl clowns straight out of a Die Antwoord video, I stumbled across what are undoubtedly the most familiar pieces of the show: small scale resin recreations of the two iconic H.R. Giger designs, "The Space Jockey" and "The Derelict", immediately recognisable from Ridley Scott's sci-fi film Prometheus.

I was hoping there might be some Mark Pauline interactive art to accompany it, but I suspected that the confines of the gallery space were insufficient.

An H.R. Giger sculpture co-created with his assistant Jules Bloom. Image credit: Modern Panic V

Having just been to the Anselm Kiefer exhibition at the Royal Academy, I was drawn to the impasto Dark Head paintings of Jean-Luc Almond, oozing depth and colour. These stood out as some of my favourite pieces of the show.

But I would be remiss in my coverage without a shout out to the delightfully and disgustingly talented Scabbage, his bile inducing, detailed spunking unicorns and vomiting insects are now available as tattoos at my studio of choice Ten Tonne Tattoo in Purley, for the ink-inclined among you.

This frenetic, energetic experience, though slightly tame overall, deserves the title Modern Panic for its eclectic curation. Anyway, to be completely frank, I was just thankful that Clayton Pettet wasn’t there. ®

Modern Panic V runs from 8 to 16 November, 11am to 7pm daily at the Apiary Studios – 458 Hackney Rd, London, E2 9EG. Admission: £3.