Above:
Performed at the Arts [Performance] Incubator, an event held at the gallery Detroit Contemporary (hosted by SPREAD ART). Detroit, Michigan, USA. February 20, 2014
Performed at the Arts [Performance] Incubator, an event held at the gallery Detroit Contemporary (hosted by SPREAD ART). Detroit, Michigan, USA. February 20, 2014
Description of sculptural form and performance:
A membrane of taut, translucent fabric separates two performers whose hands crank two spools. Multiple graphite-coated threads wind off, separating as they reach up to pierce the screen. Once through they descend immediately towards the receiving cylinder. The static image would suggest a mirror, with identical components on either side, but embedded in the symmetry is the paradox of opposition and compromise.
Two people alternate in their task of winding the thread towards their respective side, their “turn” corresponding to alternating audio tracks of voices narrating personal accounts of cultural contact. The vocal montage draws on historical ethnographic texts[1], psychoanalysis of social membership[2], and interviews with immigrants to the mid-western United States[3]. The monologues are intended to explore the complex terrain of establishing, recognizing, and redefining identity. They address “otherness” through historical, clinical, and intimate lenses.
The performance depicts tension, (or cooperation), in the literal “see-sawing” back and forth of the threads through the membrane. The graphite rubs off the threads at their precise points of insertion in the fabric, “drawing” the shape of a door as they go through. The tense nature of the stories’ emotional content is reinforced by the tug-of-war like futility of winding and unwinding, back and forth through the wall. As the abrasive actions continue, the threads eventually snap and the piece is over once they are all broken and the screen is clear. The graphite and the dilated openings in the warp and weft of the screen testify as a record of the event.
Enter Here ~ The threads repetitively and literally enter and exit the screen in specific places. The frame of screen itself alludes to a portal while the fabric provides a barrier. Finally, the back and forth nature of performance alludes to dialog, a process of reaching mutual understanding. Communication becomes a means of entering each other.
[1] Branislaw Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprize (1922); Zora Neale Herston, Tell My Horse, (1940s); Paul Rabinow Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco (1977); Paul Stoller, The Power of the Between (2006).
[2] Ruella Frank, Body of Awareness: A Somatic and Developmental Approach to Psychotherapy (2002).
[3] Tal Rappaport, Fabrice Payet, Aprillianto Sundanayo, Yuan Ma, Lai Lai Chu
A membrane of taut, translucent fabric separates two performers whose hands crank two spools. Multiple graphite-coated threads wind off, separating as they reach up to pierce the screen. Once through they descend immediately towards the receiving cylinder. The static image would suggest a mirror, with identical components on either side, but embedded in the symmetry is the paradox of opposition and compromise.
Two people alternate in their task of winding the thread towards their respective side, their “turn” corresponding to alternating audio tracks of voices narrating personal accounts of cultural contact. The vocal montage draws on historical ethnographic texts[1], psychoanalysis of social membership[2], and interviews with immigrants to the mid-western United States[3]. The monologues are intended to explore the complex terrain of establishing, recognizing, and redefining identity. They address “otherness” through historical, clinical, and intimate lenses.
The performance depicts tension, (or cooperation), in the literal “see-sawing” back and forth of the threads through the membrane. The graphite rubs off the threads at their precise points of insertion in the fabric, “drawing” the shape of a door as they go through. The tense nature of the stories’ emotional content is reinforced by the tug-of-war like futility of winding and unwinding, back and forth through the wall. As the abrasive actions continue, the threads eventually snap and the piece is over once they are all broken and the screen is clear. The graphite and the dilated openings in the warp and weft of the screen testify as a record of the event.
Enter Here ~ The threads repetitively and literally enter and exit the screen in specific places. The frame of screen itself alludes to a portal while the fabric provides a barrier. Finally, the back and forth nature of performance alludes to dialog, a process of reaching mutual understanding. Communication becomes a means of entering each other.
[1] Branislaw Malinowski, Argonauts of the Western Pacific: An Account of Native Enterprize (1922); Zora Neale Herston, Tell My Horse, (1940s); Paul Rabinow Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco (1977); Paul Stoller, The Power of the Between (2006).
[2] Ruella Frank, Body of Awareness: A Somatic and Developmental Approach to Psychotherapy (2002).
[3] Tal Rappaport, Fabrice Payet, Aprillianto Sundanayo, Yuan Ma, Lai Lai Chu
Click HERE to see video documentation.
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Above: Images of “Enter Here” performed at the Sound and Language Performance Release Event for the 6th Edition of Requited Journal.
Performed by Eliza Burmester (left) and Sarah Berkeley (right) on December 16th, 2011 at Enemy in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
Performed by Eliza Burmester (left) and Sarah Berkeley (right) on December 16th, 2011 at Enemy in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.