“Untitled (forever)”

Without declaring a discrete beginning to my performance, I began by placing a box of supplies and a change of clothes next the window. I changed from my ‘regular’ clothes into a short black dress, opaque black tights and black high heels. I sat on the ground and began unpacking my materials, laying them out in front of me very methodically. Included was a set of sewing needles, sewing thread, scissors, matches, a washcloth, a bottle of water, a pencil, tape and some black india ink. I began lashing a sewing needle the pencil using the thread, wrapping it very tight and securing it with a piece of string. I lit a match and briefly held the needle in the flame. Next, I opened up the india ink and the bottle of water. I poured a little bit of ink in the cap, and dampened the washcloth slightly.

I pulled up a section of my tights just above my left knee and cut a hole about two inches wide. I dipped the pencil in the ink, and began sticking the needle into my skin. Each poke created a tiny dot which I ordered into the shape of the infinity sign. I had to go over this shape probably six or seven times to create a solid line, wiping off excess ink with the damp washcloth in after each iteration. When I was satisfied with my work, I packed my equipment back up, and changed back into my regular clothes and took a seat.

Though there was no specific narrative to the ‘story’ I chose to perform, it followed a definite course of rising and falling action, a character, setting and transformation. However, though I made myself into a ‘different person’ for the duration of the piece, the actions I performed resulted in a permanent change to my own body.

“Sleepover/dark arts”

Before our class began, I set up a table in the middle of the room with blue sheets hanging off of the edges. On the table were some candles, incense, pine needles and pine cones and a spilled glass of water. Some drops of blood were in this glass of water and lots of the items were also spilled on the floor. My friend Katie and I wore yellow nightgowns and laid under the table, partly obscured by the blue sheets. We both had slightly bloody noses. We laid under the table asleep for five minutes after the class begun until an alarm went off. We woke each other up, got out from under the table and cleaned the blood off of each other’s noses and began cleaning up the table and spilled water.

The structure of this performance stresses the aftermath over the action. Only evidence of what may have happened was observed, and the resolution is all that the audience witnesses. It is ambiguous whether Katie and I participated in some kind of illicit, violent, supernatural or sexual activity during the night.

“The other half of the day”

I began recording my dreams every night in detail. I determined before class how many dreams I was going to recount, and randomly determined what times I would tell them over the course of class. I did this first during Devin’s reading performance and also the two following classes. While I retold the dreams to the best of my ability, I performed some kind of very slow physical movement with my eyes closed. Sometimes these movements corresponded in some way with what I was describing and sometimes they were more related to the difficulty and cloudiness associated with trying to remember dreams. I tried to get other classmates to participate as well and Corinne retold a few dreams during one class. I stopped when I stopped being able to remember my dreams very well.

I did this both as a performance and also as a personal exercise in organizing my night time thoughts. It became frustrating to me at some point that the experiences I was having in my dreams every night were not valuable during waking life. Performing these dreams to the class became a way to balance the worthlessness of nighttime. I was truly amazed by the frequency of certain topics; Providence, finding drugs on the ground and a boy I barely know from Providence came up almost every other night. It was almost indulgent to talk about these sorts things so much, and I realized that maybe I would like to pursue these topics in following performances. I had never done anything so directly personal in my creative work before, and figured that now was a good time to test the waters.

“Is it you, or me looking at you,”

I set up two chairs facing each other next to a table on which I laid out lipstick, eyeliner, eye shadow and mascara. I sat Devin in one chair, and sat in the other, and leaned in very close to his face and began applying make up and fixing my hair as though I was looking into a mirror. I started whispering/soft speaking statements to Devin, which he would repeat back to me in a normal speaking voice. The content of these statements progressed from questioning the properties of the ‘mirror’ I was looking at to reflections on the differences between two males that I had recently been attracted to. These statements often brought up issues of identity and communication, specifically the question of self and the line between someone else, and the ideas that we project onto them.

“Heavy research”

I laid out a large piece of plastic on the floor and secured it to the ground, and asked for a volunteer from out class. Corinne decided she would do it, and I instructed her to choose some position on the plastic, whatever felt most comfortable for her. I told her that I was going to ask some questions in a very methodical manner, and began with simple questions about her background and progressed to more personal questions, and sometimes questions about myself. I recorded her responses on the piece of plastic and made associations between her spoken words and physical movements as though I was trying to develop some kind of precise way to measure all of her behaviors. I often drew connections between things she said that were entirely illogical, making associations between unrelated statements based on physical movements or ideas I developed independently.

Whereas the previous performance explored the balance between two way communication and self-projection, “Heavy research” is very focused on the very one way examination that is sometimes performed on subjects of interest. In cases of infatuation, the tiniest physical movements become matters of great importance as they relate to body language. Whatever communication that occurs is recalled again and again in the mind of the observer, often drawing many connections between information in an effort to understand more about the subject. This reconstruction of the subject becomes more present in the mind of the observer than the subject itself, bringing back the original question asked in “Is it you, or me looking at you.”

rumrill's recap

Performance I
For this performance I led the group, referred to as
my "children", on a quest to the school library.  Throughout
the performance I spoke only in rhyme, and requested a chant
to be repeated after each couplet.  We went through the art
school, outside, and through the doors of the library, where
my character went off to live.  Part of the piece involved
trying to get "outsiders" to join the journey, however most
bystanders did not care to.  This piece was made in an
effort to tell a story, but have the members of the class be
a part of the story being told.

Performance II
This performance began with me distributing typewritten
notes to everyone in attendance.  These notes supplied them
with a username and password, and invited them to use a
facebook page under my name. This page would be seen by
everyone I know.  The participants were allowed to do
whatever they'd like so long as they did not get the page
banned.  This would include sending messages, use of the
"chat" function with any friends of mine, and changing any
personal information of Robert J. Rumrill.  Notes were also
given to certain friends, and some strangers.  At the start
of the next class, I changed the password and username back,
signifying the end of the piece.

Performance III
This performance, a written out sequence of questions, was
made in an effort to create something that, if performed in
such a way, could go on forever.  The performance began with
me asking questions to the audience, such as "Is it alright
if I begin?" all questions were either directed to the
audience, or to specific people within the audience.  At one
point the score called for me to ask "Could you take over
for me from the beginning?" and to give an audience member a
copy of the score, all the while continuing doing "my part".
The audience member would then start the sequence again,
eventually giving a copy to someone else, etc.  Creating and
endless tide of questions, as long as everyone is game to
continue.  This particular performance ended when everyone
asked Corinne, who was in the process of performing a silent
piece, to take over for them.

Performance IV
This performance began with me leaving the room with both
female members of the class.  They carried a bag and led me
to the women's room.  I then asked them to get chairs for me
and themselves, and waited there for them to return.  When
they did, I removed a tub of rocky road ice cream from the
bag, and proceeded to eat it in front of the mirror.
Through this, I made idle chatter regarding my love of ice
cream, and how excited I was to be eating sch a large
amount.  At a certain point, I asked one member to leave,
and send another person in their place. Another member of
the class came in, and I continued to eat ice cream, and
voice my thoughts.  This sequence happened until there was
no one else to send.  Each successive person got more and
more complaints about what a chore it was to eat such a
large amount of ice cream. I finished the rest of the tub,
with the last person in attendance, debated with them
whether to throw up or not, sent them back, cleaned up my
mess, and returned to the class full of ice cream.

Performance V
This was done in collaboration with Devin. For this piece we
decided to set up on opposite sides of the room with amps
and guitars. In addition to those audience members already
present in the room, we gathered as many people as possible
and brought them into the performance space. When the
performance began we asked everyone to leave the room with
the exception of one person who, prior to the performance,
was asked to stay and be seated in the middle of the room.
Once everyone else left the room Devin and I turned on our
amps and struck an open chord at the same time, and let it
ring. After doing this, I sustained very loud feedback,
while Devin did a slide guitar solo, reminiscent of standard
rock or blues.  When Devin finished his solo, he indicated
to me that he was done (through raising his guitar), and I
did a similar slide guitar solo, while Devin supplied
feedback. Once I finished my solo, Devin and I struck open
chords, similar to the beginning of the piece, and played a
final guitar flourish together.  Once we were finished, we
turned our amplifiers of and the audience member clapped
quietly and politely.

Haircut

Haircut

This performance occurred in room 412 of the Fuller Music Building at the University of Hartford at 5:00 AM on December 18th, 2009. The location, set-up, and performance rituals were based around those commonly employed in concert music. The audience was seated in front of a stage, the performers entered and exited to applause, and bowed before and after the performance.
The performance itself consisted of me cutting approximately 18 inches from the bottom of Daniel Mumbauer's hair with kitchen scissors. The entire event lasted about 10 minutes. The dullness of the scissors and my lack of knowledge of haircutting technique made the process long and somewhat painful - I was constantly pulling his hair to create tension, and by the end my hands had seized up from squeezing the scissors.
Daniel agreed to the haircut under the influence of large amounts of alcohol. Though he has talked about cutting his hair before, he has never made the decision to go through with it, and would unlikely have done so if sober. The decision to cut his hair in this way is in direct contrast to the standard model for a haircut, which usually includes a location equipped to cut hair, a trained hairdresser, no audience, and a person who fully wants his hair to be cut. In this case we were also present in a building that was closed, and in a room that we entered without permission.

seth's recap

Adult story time - this piece was in response to "tell a
story". For this piece the class and I sat down at a table
like you would have done in elementary school, and I read a
more violent/adult version of the famous story of the three
little pigs.


Dirty vs Clean - For this piece I walked into class wearing
a shirt, tie, and black slacks. Before class started I had
put a plastic tarp in the center of the room with 6 chairs
in front for the audience to sit. I then started to walk in
circles on the tarp while squeezing  different bottles and
colors of soap on the tarp. I had decided to include the
class in this performance so while I was walking around in
circles I would sporadically pull people from their seats to
help me squeeze the bottles. I also included the audience by
GENTLY tossing bars of soap at them. after everyone helped
me with the soap I continued to do roll around and do
various body poses in the soap. The point of this piece was
that even things that are made to keep you clean can make
you dirty as well.

Ritual Piece - The idea for this piece came to me shortly
after rereading the ritual chapter of our textbook. I knew I
wanted to do something that involved the act of everyday
ritual, so I acted out the three things I do every day which
are eat, drink, and wash. i showed this by sitting a table
by myself in the front of the room, I had a protein bar, a
bottle of water, and hand sanitizer. I continuously did all
three things in a row for about 20 minutes until the protein
bar was done.

Blindfold Drawing - I blindfolded the class and walked each
person to crammed uncomfortable area where I had placed a
very large foam board. I put a different color marker in
every one's hand and then continued to play three totally
different instrumental songs which lasted 18 minutes and
told the class to draw what they felt. While they were
drawing I would move them around the space and change their
markers so no one but me would know who was where and who
drew what. At the end we were left with this enormous board
covered in scribbles, shapes, patterns, and words.

OK, NOT OK - This piece symbolizes the internal battles we
all must face on a daily basis. I sat the class down in a
circle facing outwards and started to walk around the
circle, the first time around i would look the person right
in the eyes and with a smile on my face say "everything's
going to be ok". After my third time around I started to say
"everything is not going to be ok" and my smile changed to a
more serious/stern look. After walking around saying that
three times I walked into the corner to a body outline and
laid there for 2 minutes which symbolized that for me on
this particular day everything was not ok. This piece was in
dedication to a friend of mine who had recently committed
suicide.

PERFORMANCE PIECES

Manipulation II

In the early morning hours October 15th, 2009, I placed five 11"x17" hand-written signs in high-traffic locations of the University of Hartford campus. Each sign gave a single instruction: "Look Up", "Look Down", "Look Left", "Look Over There" (with an arrow), and "Look Behind You." 

This piece is intended as a follow-up to my previous performance using index cards with instructions to manipulate an audience, in effect making the audience perform and the performer an observer of the results. In this piece, I did not observe the results of my actions, leaving to chance that someone will view the sign and follow the instructions presented. Placing the signs in areas of high foot traffic, making them large and prominent, and keeping the instructions simple but unusual (for a sign) were methods employed to increase the odds of someone following the instruction.

Assuming that a person noticed the sign then followed the instructions, it can be said that my actions the night before in some way manipulated that person into doing my bidding. Even if no one followed the instructions posted, I can state my intent as merely wanting people to take notice of the sign in some way, and then with a high amount of certainty can consider the piece a success (barring wind or some other force removing all the signs and depositing each of them in a place where they will never be encountered again).

Poker

This piece was in response to an assignment to "tell a story." In order to do so, I took on some of the "classic" persona of a poker player, and presented to the audience a single hand of poker.  The audience members were seated as individual players, told the game was texas hold 'em, given stacks of poker chips, and dealt cards by myself, who played the dealer. In this way there were two levels of involvement - myself as storyteller with an audience, and myself as a poker dealer with players (enhanced by the fact that the members at this point likely believed that they were actually going to play the game).

After encouraging each person to look at their cards, I then began narrating the game, describing each player's action and placing their bets or folded cards into the middle. I then dealt the community cards and narrated each round of betting. In addition to giving the plays, I began analyzing the actions from the perspective of the other players, describing what each person may hold or may be thinking. In this way I was inhabiting three roles - the dealer, who described the play ("action to you", "3000 chips in the pot"), the storyteller ("you raise to a total of 500" "you decide to fold"), and the minds of the players  ("if he did have an overpair, you probably have him beat"). The audience is now just that - observers with no real influence on the action, despite what may have been suggested at the beginning.

The hand came to showdown, and I then described the actual intent behind the actions of each player, comparing that to what I gave as an analysis. The performance lasted about 15 minutes.

Light and Sound

For this piece I placed myself in between a speaker attached to a laptop producing high-frequency attenuated white noise and a light attached to an automatic dimmer at the "off" setting. For exactly 60 minutes the light linearly increased to its maximum setting while the sound linearly decreased to zero. I was positioned in a cross-legged posture, with the light to my left and the speaker and one wall of the room to my right. As the light increased my silhouette formed on the wall.

The very start of the piece included two elements - the sound and myself. When the piece began the light entered as a third element, slowly trading places with the sound. The end of the piece saw the sound disappear, with the silhouette created by the light taking its place. 

Manipulation I

In this piece I wrote a number of actions on a large set of index cards, separated them into individual piles, and placed them on a table with instructions for each person to pick up a stack and perform the actions written. The class decided to following my directions, and began to perform.

The actions themselves were meant to be comical - examples include "do 30 jumping jacks" and "shout someone's name to get their attention." Events were loosely timed as to create interesting interactions, but mixed up cards and actions performed out of order prevented these from happening, creating some interesting, though unplanned, situations. Each deck also included certain actions of varying levels of extremity, some which were tame enough to be performed ("bite someone's toe"), but many that were skipped.

The inspiration for this performance was literature on various psychological tests done in the 20th century on the tendency of people to obey authority figures. I used my roles as member of the class and "performer" of the day to convince the class to follow my instructions. In other settings it would be unlikely that anyone would do what was presented, or at least to the degree in which the class participated. As noted before, though, not every action was performed - the class's drive to create a good performance and participate for my piece's sake had limits. This did not cause a stop to the performance, though - people merely skipped the cards and continued onto the next one, actively adapting the piece to meet their own standards. 

a piece for the group

A PERFORMED DINNER 12.15.09

MENU


Margaritas with Sauza Hornitos and Gran Marnier

Chips + Pico de Gallo Salsa

Guacamole

Ceviche

Rice+Beans

Salmon Steaks with Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Flan with Clementine section

Performance Pieces

Performance Piece #1

This piece consisted of the placement and use of various objects and materials that were gradually retrieved from outside the performance space. The performance began with the performer (myself) immediately leaving the designated performance area without any indication to the audience as to where I was going. The time in between the placement of each object depended on the distance from the performance area and the outside retrieval location, as well as the pace that I choose to move from each area, which in this case was fairly slow and relaxed. After a time of around ten minutes, I returned to the performance area with a large blue tarp that I began to spread out in the front of the room facing the audience. This action was completed in silence, with almost a complete disregard for the audience and in a seemingly stern/ serious manner which continued throughout the performance for each action performed and for the placement of each object. After spreading the tarp, I left the room to retrieve more objects, which this time included three logs of wood, which were placed in three horizontal lines. After doing this I returned with a saw and a can of gasoline and after placing these objects down, I took one of the logs and began to saw of a piece of it as fast as I could. After sawing off a piece of the log I put it down and left the performance area. I then returned with a weed wacker, which I proceeded to fill with gasoline. After filling the weed wacker I began to pour gasoline over the tarp, the logs of wood, and the weed wacker. After doing this I left and returned with three pieces of finished wood and placed them down flat in three vertical columns. After doing this I returned with a bucket of white ceiling paint, opened it, mixed it with the piece of wood that I sawed off earlier and began pouring it over the three pieces of finished wood, covering them entirely. I then left the room and returned with a blueprint, which I placed against the front wall of the room on the tarp. After doing this I sat down in the audience, signaling that the performance was finished. The piece in total lasted around a half hour.

Performance Piece #2

For this performance I began by arranging the room where the performance would take place prior to the arrival of the audience. I began by placing six mobile chairs in the middle of the room facing the front wall where a table with a laptop on top of it was placed and a 8x10 bass cabinet was located beside it. When the audience members arrived they sat in the chairs and when the performance began I asked them to set their chairs to the highest seating position. I then retrieved some blindfolds from a bag hidden behind the table at the front of the room and asked each audience member to tie them over their eyes and around their ears with their hands placed on their laps, palms resting upwards. Once each audience member finished doing this I began to play a pre composed piece consisting of predominantly low frequency sounds through the bass cabinet at a very high volume. This caused the room to vibrate and shake as well disabled the audience’s ability to hear anything else but these sounds. After a few moments I slowly began moving each audience member to different locations in the room and after doing this, took out several materials that would be applied to each audience member including ketchup, mayonnaise, spicy mustard, chocolate sauce, raw eggs, and ground beef (ground turkey in this case). In this order I slowly applied each material to the audience applying each material to every member before moving on to the next material. In applying these items to the audience I put an ample amount of each material in my hands and then proceeded to take their hands and cover them. After covering their hands I then smeared these materials on their faces mostly across their mouths and on their cheeks. Once the audio track finished playing and I had applied each material, I moved each audience member back to their original position, in the middle of the room facing the front and untied their blindfolds. After doing this I sat behind the table and faced the audience, signaling the end of the performance. The performance lasted between fifteen and twenty minutes.

Performance Piece #3

Performance #3 was predominantly centered on endurance, anticipation, dedication and time perception. The performance was designed mainly as an event or ordeal that I decided, as the performer, I was going to go through. What initially began as an idea for a (pre-determined) full text reading was scaled down to a 300 hundred-page reading or skimming (for practical reasons, the fact that I couldn’t accommodate for the time that it would take to complete the whole book in one sitting), where only prepositions and conjunctions would be spoken. As far as the structure of the performance, for every fifty pages that was read or covered there were three sets of air horn shots. In total, it took around 7 or 8 hours to finish.

Performance Piece #4

This Ladder was carried 4.1 miles.

For this performance I carried a roofing ladder from 91 Whitman Ave to 200 Bloomfield Ave in West Hartford (4.1 miles, 5 if including traveling on campus). The statement above was taped near the ceiling of the performance space. When the performance began I indicated that there was a statement taped to the wall. The audience members chose to use the ladder in order to read what it said.

Performance Piece #5

By Joe Rumrill/Devin DiSanto

Performance Piece #5 was a collaborative performance with Joe. For this piece we decided to set up on opposite sides of the room with amps and guitars. In addition to those audience members already present in the room, we gathered as many people as possible and brought them into the performance area. When the performance began we asked everyone to leave the room with the exception of one person who, prior to the performance, was asked to stay and be seated in the middle of the room. Once everyone else left the room Joe and I turned on our amps and struck an open chord at the same time. After doing this, I began a solo in a typical slide guitar blues/rock fashion including cliché gestures and mannerisms while Joe sustained feedback. Once I finished I raised my guitar and pointed to Joe in order for him to begin his solo, which was similar in style to mine. Once Joe was finished he signaled to me and we struck open chords until we cued a finnish. Once we were done and turned off our amps, the audience member in the middle of the room clapped.

Performance Recap

Video Replay: controlled playing of childhood Christmas home-

movie. Video was paused and rewound to show a specific

part in a different perspective.

Caged:    handcuffed - bound inside a cage with ability to feel 

and see outside the cage but never confident enough 

to break free and leave it.

Bruised: test reaction of others to completely bruised face and

black eye. suggestive.

Blank Canvas: outside on academic quad. blank face mask - no

specific identity. Allowed others to 'do as they will'

 with props that were layed out (paint, cups, brushes,

 squirt bottles, me, my clothes and sheet)

Pumpkin: tearing apart a halloween pumpkin with a knife and

 hands. Eating the raw insides savagely. 

Daryl's Dream Sequence: participating in a requested dream sequence

 by Daryl - to narrate up to five dreams as I chose to

 do so through out class.

Piano concerto: playing every piano piece that could be remembered

 without written music in a sort of trance- 'in their

 own world' type manner. not stopping til there were

 no more selections left to play.

Abduction: laying on the floor in the dark - bagged and pulled

 out during class- was dragged down to first floor and

 out back entrance towards the parking lot. Class

 physical reaction is key.

amazing

WOW I'm so happy you posted this. I am so relieved to know all the answers FINALLY. I never have to teach this class again. I can move on to other more challenging questions now. THANKS YOU'VE MADE MY DAY!

in case anyone needs a little help

AN INTENTIONAL ACT

ACTION: moving one cord of wood approximately 30 feet.
DATE: 10/28/09
DURATION: 90 minutes
TRANSFORMATION: energy, shape, location, functionality, properties

On October 28, 2009 at 11:15 AM, approximately one cord of firewood was delivered and dumped in my driveway at 525 Waterville Road, Avon, CT. For one hour and fifteen minutes I proceeded to move the pile of wood from the driveway to the side of the house near the basement bulkhead door for easy access and use for the winter. The weather was wet and raining hard and approximately 50 degrees. Wearing a light cotton jacket and work gloves I worked to stack the wood for 90 minutes.

During this process I focused on the kinesthetic qualities of the activity; the movements of my body, the amount of leverage needed to lift the pieces of wood with each hand into a wheelbarrow, judging the capacity of the wheelbarrow and my capacity to move it, the relative inflation of the tire which was under-inflated and inhibited the ease of movement, the muscles needed in the variety of actions from bending to lifting to throwing to rolling the wheelbarrow to dumping it to re-lifting and stacking each piece into a stack measuring approximately 4' x 4' x 8'.

I also considered the amount of energy used in the entire arc of this process; from felling the trees, cutting the logs to length (between 18" and 24"), splitting them, transporting them from the woods to a location for sale, loading them to transport, transporting them to my home, unloading them into my driveway and moving and stacking them, then the eventual restacking them in my basement, then bringing them in small quantities up into the house and then burning them for heat/entertainment. I have absolutely no metric to judge this transfer of energy. It seems an inordinate amount of energy transfer to create a contained moment of fire and heat for comfort and pleasure.

Once the stack was completed and the wood moved approximately thirty feet from its original location, I covered it with a tarp. After completing the task I realized I was soaking wet from the rain and the amount of body heat I was generating was creating a cloud of steam rising off of my clothes, fogging my glasses, prohibiting me from seeing anything and insulating me from what was around me.

dragged out

"GENE!

I appreciate the call jason gave in regards to my whereabouts and safety. I am okay. I feel if I responded immediately to him I would have lost some of the intent of my performance. So I'm emailing you now to let you know that it was in fact a performance- in having to explain that it was, I feel successful in the intent behind what happened tonight. In saying that- WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THE FREAK DRAGGING ME OUT OF THE ROOM ;) just kidding-

Hope we discuss it more on Tuesday :)

-Corinne"

RUMRILL's response...

Robert Rumrill
Lecture response

I thought the work of Daniel Bozhkov was fairly interesting. Moreso than the actual outcome and messages of his pieces, I enjoyed the means in which his pieces became complete. It was astounding how the only way his pieces could come to fruition was through countless hours of apprenticeship. Coming in to a project completely devoid of the knowledge needed to complete it is a problem all artists encounter, but Bozhkov definitely uses that to his aesthetic advantage. He de-elevates himself from “famous artist” to “common laborer” in order to boost himself to become even more of a “famous artist.” Of everything he presented, I found the perfume piece to be the most entertaining. I think I liked it the most because he was using his common tactic of infiltrating a niche profession, but in this piece he purchased ad space on television in order to confuse an even wider audience. The other ones struck me as too pinpointed to create a real mass impact. It is apparent, though, that this is an intention of Bozhkov, and these little worlds are ones he feels are worth exploring. I really liked how he didn’t even seem to like it when his art was brought to the attention of the media, such as his “learn to fly with a very large larry” piece. However, it would bug me if some guy from “Friends” was not getting my artistic point, too. I can see where he’s coming from.

My first and strongest reaction to Bozkhov's presentation is a simultaneous distaste and appreciation of the very banal quality both his work and character exude. Rather than embrace the more common role of artist as creator, Bozkhov has chosen to embrace what is already there: systems, symbols and ideas that are a product of modern life, and not with any intended "artistic value." Furthermore, the manner in which he embraces often does not seek to present what he finds in a way that tries to reach beyond the everyday quality of things. Bozkhov often resembles an anthropologist or scientist in the way that he documents and treats his subjects so objectively.
(to be continued!)

Bozkov and postmoderism

In considering how to approach a discussion on Bozhkov's presentation, it occurred to me how stunningly complex his works are. Each individual piece includes a number of different elements and threads that connect and work together in various ways. In this way his work relates strongly to some of the ideas discussed in regards to postmodernism - many different concepts and mediums are employed by Bozhkov in the spectrum of art he presented, as well as in each individual work. The Wal-Mart greeter was very much conceptual and performative while also including video and the traditional medium of fresco. The Turkish pretzel piece included performance, video, and a local traditional craft into which the artist injected his own sculpture, related to the earlier work with his mother's language. "Learning to Fly over Very Large Larry" used crop circle as a medium to show Larry's face, had a strong performance aspect, and was followed by an installation detailing not only the art itself, but the media's response, details on the actual plants involved in creating the face, and custom-designed furniture. Each of these elements reenforces the others, resulting in expansive works that often take on lives of their own (as with the media response to 'Very Large Larry') or lend themselves well to expansion in the future (as was done with the creation of large amounts of yogurt after the initial gene-lab experiment, or continued selling and marketing of the Ernest Hemingway cologne). Bozhkov embraces and includes any concept, medium, or style that will enhance his current pursuit, and in doing so creates works that very much fall under the umbrella of "post-modern."

One of the common threads in all of the pieces he presented was that each included a performance aspect that was either separate from or resulted in the final product (reminding me of Mark Dion's installations). He as the artist was actively engaged, with the demonstration of the process being part of the work. When the process was complete there remained some sort of product, which was either a work of art in a traditional sense (painting, sculpture), a marketable product (cologne, pretzels), or photographic and video evidence, provided by the artist and/or the media. In some works, the performance itself lives on, such as with the continued production the new pretzel designs by a single baker in Turkey.

Play and Ritual in Bozhkov's Works

After viewing Daniel Bozhkov’s presentation it seemed that a lot of his work is focused on elements of social interaction both with those that he encounters throughout the course of his performance or activities and through those that he reaches through his use of various forms of presentations, media, and distribution. In addition to, or as a result of these interactions several different aspects of ritual and play become involved. With his work involving the making of pretzels in Bulgaria and his interest in the language of the country in connection with his mother’s use of aging terms, Bozhkov explores different rituals, traditions and processes of the Bulgarian culture. His choice to do a work involving this particular source of food demonstrates his intention to investigate and modify a ritual that is so ingrained in the everyday culture and shows that through his involvement in the creation of this food he intended to use it as a platform for his research and for his presentation of his ideas toward the culture. The video that was displayed showed how he had to learn the traditional technique of making the pretzels and how he approached making the different pretzel shapes from the words that he chose from his mother, therefore exploring the use of language within the area and the shift in meaning of words and terms in a language as generations pass. He applied a similar subtle to change to the pretzels that he made and presented them by selling the pretzels in the normal way that they are sold in that city.

In terms of play it seemed that many of his works had a humorous aspect to them particularly the Hemingway perfume and the DNA yogurt, which turned the process and presentation of these products into a performance. With both of these works Bozhkov demonstrated the process from the beginning idea to the finished product and to the distribution of this product or object to the public, presenting the different steps that are taken from the various aspects of assembly to different means of sale to the customer. By producing these seemingly absurd items according to these common rules of production Bozhkov turned this process into a game where he both follows the rules while simultaneously subverting them by making bizarre or eccentric objects and by using the black market and on the street sale, all of which go against the typical ways of creating and distributing a product.

joe + 10/22

I saw the acts that took place 10/22 as more of an installation than a performance. The entertainment from that evening was more in the idea of the performance and the conflicting emotions it created than actually enduring the entire thing. In regards to Devin’s performance, I thought he did a phenomenal job of sticking to his guns and completing a goal by any means necessary. The real fun of his piece was the process in which we learned what that particular goal was. As always, fear played a big part of the night, and questions filled my mind. What makes the horn sound? What did these words mean? What if he doesn’t use the horn? Am I allowed to move? What if the horn makes a really dinky noise, and I’m fretting over nothing? At first I thought Devin was only reading single syllable words, but about thirty minutes in I heard the word “besides”, and thought that he was going to add syllables a time progressed. This reminded me of gradual processes in the arts. Devin’s research topic involves an artist whose work was primarily based over long stretches of time, so I knew that his piece was going to take the entire class/book/patience of the class, and inferring that from early on really let me focus on the reactions of everyone else. It seemed that those who knew Devin the closest felt the least need to stay in their seats. I left after both Daryl and Jason exited. It seemed to me (at the time) that Gene was staying because he was either giddily entertained (or was simply “being the teacher”), Seth was staying out of courtesy, and Corinne was next in line to do her piece. I thought it strange that those who interact with him on a more regular basis were the most comfortable leaving the room.
The simultaneity of performance was a treat, and reminded me of a Cage musiccircus, where many Cage pieces are performed in the same space at the same time. I really liked that Devin’s piece affected mostly my mind (focusing on when that horn was coming), Daryl’s piece was affecting my ears (with describing her dreams and nightmares), and Corinne’s piece was affecting mostly my vision (the brightly colored pumpkin gunk going everywhere) This all created its own unique environment, and is where I started viewing it more as an installation. A room where lots of stuff was happening, but it was easy to pay attention to all of it, due to the nature of each of the respective performances. I think Daryl’s and Corinne’s performances also amplified Devin’s steadfast commitment to see his piece through, and it was good that he didn’t view them as interruptions, but rather as inevitabilities.
I really like how Devin’s performance was even more effective once no one was left in the audience. It’s one thing to do what he did to the end of the class time, but from what I heard, he did it until he couldn’t physically do it any longer. Hitting the hay that night was made much more interesting thinking about whether Devin was still reading that book aloud in a dark art school, with his airhorn by his side. It’s not every day that we get to experience a piece that continues being an experience until the next day or some days after that. I think that the situation caused some interesting reactions from those involved, and I hope that more classes can have the story arc this one did.

NYC performance

Action: For the time I was in NYC, October 30, 2009, I deliberately positioned myself in the path of people texting while walking on the streets, in galleries, museums, stores and in the subway.

THIS AMERICAN LIFE EPISODES I MENTIONED

simulation:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=791

hands on a hard body:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=62

Becoming the wall

I stepped into last class expecting more or less what was discussed - one or two performances, followed by discussion, followed by the forever-delayed Robert Wilson video. My attitude was less than stellar - I was tired, hungry, stressed, and wanted the day to be over.

The first thing I noticed upon entering the room was that Devin was wearing earplugs and holding an airhorn. This worried me - as a musician I don't take my hearing for granted - but decided that as long as I had the option to cover my ears there wouldn't be a problem. I sat and waited for everyone to arrive, the initial class announcements, and the performance to begin.

The first fifteen minutes of the reading was fascinating to me on many levels. I wondered about Devin's intent, whether there would be a change, and the role of the airhorn, which was sitting on the floor. I watched the class's reaction as they pondered similar questions. Some initial restlessness grew and faded as realization dawned that the piece wasn't ending anytime soon, and we all seemed to lean back in our chairs and relax.

It was at this point that my thoughts began to drift. The quietly-spoken, random words took on a sort of trance-inducing rhythm, and my thoughts wandered far away from the building. At first the threat of the airhorn kept me at least semi-present, but after another thirty or so minutes I forgot even about that.

I never actually fell asleep, but I was deeply daydreaming. Over an hour into the performance and I decided to check the time on my phone, which snapped me back to reality. The dynamic in the room had changed - it seemed everyone's attention was much more fixed on Devin than before. I realized that there was some form of tension - had he made a motion I had missed? I watched, and not long after he made a false reach toward the airhorn, and the tension increased even more. While I was lost in my own thoughts, a hostage situation had developed.

For me, I was being kept not only from leaving, in fear of setting off the airhorn, but also from losing focus, in case I missed my chance to cover my ears. I followed Joe's direction and preemptively stuck my fingers in - I did not want to be caught off guard. I noticed at this point Devin seemed to get more uncomfortable - the tension was switching to the other side. Now the audience was expecting something, was acting slightly irritated, and Devin was in response acting more uncomfortable - speeding up, making faces, not hiding the struggle it was becoming to continue. Not long after, the airhorn went off, Daryl left the room, and the mood shifted yet again.

After the airhorn blasts I made a decision. The piece was fascinating, but I realized that it was unlikely to end. I gave it a few more minutes to see if a big finish was coming, and when the feeling of the room fell back to it's previous place, I left. Part of me was driven for the need to use the restroom, and the other part of me was tired of sitting, and afraid of missing the next use of the airhorn.

A while later the class convened in the hallway. Corinne was irritated about not being able to do her performance, and was encouraged to do it anyway. She took off, and we discussed the piece. It was decided that it was unlikely to end within the class period, but our discussions of leaving were cut short when we realized that Corinne was performing.

Corinne's destruction of the pumpkin became much more interesting as a contrast to Devin than a performance itself. The mess, the colors, and jagged and violent actions were a fantastic foil to calming repetition. She was obviously driven by anger at not getting to perform the way she wanted to, but it added a new dimension to Devin's work by forcing him into the background - his endurance, while impressive, was becoming part of the wall, something less noticed than used as a frame of reference. This continued with Daryl's recitations, even moreso - I was now paying attention almost fully to Daryl, and Devin's presence I only noticed once or twice as an amusement.

After all the action, when things returned normal, I was suddenly bored. I barely noticed Devin - he had become part of the wall, and I felt as if I was sitting in an empty room. I thought of the waiting rooms in Doctor's offices. This turned from boring to stressful, as I was now thinking about everything I had to do outside of class. With one last glace at Professor Gort (who had obviously long since decided to not give any indication), I left.

Some thoughts on 10/22...

My performance last Thursday was predominantly centered on endurance, anticipation, dedication and time perception. The performance was designed mainly as an event or ordeal that I decided, as the performer, I was going to go through. What initially began as an idea for a (pre-determined) full text reading was scaled down to a 300 hundred-page reading or skimming (for practical reasons, I couldn’t accommodate for the time that it would take to complete the whole book in one sitting), where, for the most part, only prepositions and conjunctions would be spoken. As far as the structure of the performance, for every fifty pages that was read or covered there were three sets of air horn shots. In total, it took more than nine hours to finish.

Overall, I wanted to create a performance where I attempted to be completely dedicated to a seemingly senseless action and for the most part, except for a few key choices, I didn't really want to take the audience into consideration. When the performance began I tried to pretend as though the class wasn't there so that I wouldn't be tempted to make certain decisions such as sounding the air horn at an inappropriate time or speeding up or slowing down the reading, and aside from a few glances, I really didn't notice many reactions except for when a few people left the room. After the first three sets of air horn shots I placed the air horn on the ground and this seemed to signal the end of my performance because Corrine and Daryl began doing separate performances. I expected this to happen since I had already been going for what seemed like an hour and the annoyance of the air horn seemed to have ceased. I didn’t pay attention to either performance though I did catch snippets of Daryl’s dialogue, which made it hard to concentrate. As time progressed it became much harder to locate prepositions in the text and my memorization of the 48 most commonly used prepositions was beginning to fail.

After everyone left the room I continued, and remained in my chair until I was finished. The only change made was that I decided to use a pair of earplugs since there wasn’t anyone left in the room. Initially I was going to use ear plugs throughout the whole performance but decided before I started that I wasn’t going to because I felt that if the audience was going to have to endure it then I should have to as well. Also, my hearing is one of the most important things to me and I’m willing to compromise a performance in order maintain it. As far as how the rest of the performance proceeded, it became much more interesting due mostly to the absence of a clock, the uncertainty of how long it would take to finish, and the fact that I was very exhausted. Over the course of the next six and a half hours (maybe more?) while maintaining my initial demeanor, I went through intense waves of confidence, anxiety, anger and uncertainty. There were moments where the reading became incredibly difficult for me and then there were long stretches where I was reading as though I were an automaton until it was time to sound the horn, which felt louder each time I had to use it.

Overall this experience felt as though it was a work in progress, a test, or practice for future events. There were elements that seemed to work very well and others, due to poor planning and time constraints, didn’t go the way I saw them going. I am pleased that I was able to complete the goal that I set before myself and learned a lot about what I am capable of and what I may be able to do in the future.

my reflections...yours?

Some thoughts.
I learned a lot about myself during class. I was acutely aware of my role, the passage of time, stimulation or lack of stimulation and how that impacted my perceptions.

Soon after Devin began I realized I was going to surrender my role as professor to that of audience member and in doing so would be an equal audience member with no special privileges. I realized this because of the determination Devin displayed and how he, in fact, was neutralizing my role by the role he inhabited as performer.

There were initial moments when I realized this was going to be an endurance test and when I doubted this, I recalled that this was the guy doing his research presentation on Hsieh (the artist who spent a year in self-imposed solitary confinement). I thought this ironic and appropriate. It also made me smile. There were a number of times during the evening that made me smile.

The performance itself presented some interesting observations. The book (of doorstop proportions) was covered with brown paper, like book covers I used to make in grammar school. It is also how adult literature is sent through the postal service. I initially perceived this performance in terms of redaction - a censored text with things missing and blacked out - information withheld - the absence in the reading of nouns, verbs and adjectives. This text was rendered anonymous and meaningless by these deletions. So it became inconsequential and attention was then focused on inflection, body language and nuance of rhythm, cadence and DURATION. The presence of the air horn at first was token but as Devin picked it up, the tension was inflated and my attention shifted from hearing his words to the anticipation of when and why the air horn would be used. After the first few uses, I got use to it as not being a threat and began thinking of intent. The monotony, persistence and directing the horn toward the audience I felt was meant to drive us out. When this occurred to me I decided to stick it out and let Devin's piece run its course. At one point (about 1 hr 15 m into it) I tried to calculate the thickness of the pages in relation to time passed and how long it might take to finish the book this way. I considered meeting the challenge, for about an hour. Then I realized practically I couldn't. (The presence of the air horn reminded me a performance a fellow student did when I was in college. He walked in with a brick in one hand and a briefcase in the other. He set the brick on the table, opened the briefcase and removed a pane of glass that he propped against the leg of the table. For about 30 minutes he talked about his experiences in high school playing football - in great detail. At the conclusion of his storytelling he placed the glass in the briefcase, closed it, picked up the brick and walked out.)

There were unforeseen things that crept into my awareness. The pace and rhythm of Devin's delivery was curiously equivalent to the passing of students on the lawn outside the building such that when "of", "to", "and",… was uttered, a new student entered the frame of the window. It created something akin to watching a "pong" video game or space invaders. It was the same rhythm and pacing.

When something repeats endlessly like this, one's attention shifts. The details fade and many other elements come to the fore. Also reminded me of a Cage moment (4'33") - the refocusing of attention.

The main dynamic in class though was the emotional intensity and diversions that occurred. I kept feeling like the class was looking for some kind of referee decision on my part about how to proceed at various points. Since I opted out of the professor role, that didn't go anywhere and I felt the class recognized this pretty quickly. The dynamic shifted throughout which I found compelling - from respect to unsettled to anxious to anger to dismissiveness to dismay to playfulness to competition…. It fluctuated subtly or drastically depending on the moment and the actions/inactions at hand.

Daryl's two dreams I thought were engaging, absurdist and turned the feel of the moment around. The diversion completely changed the perception of the passage of time. There was a relief in the tension. There was a figure/ground relationship that arose - Devin the ground, Daryl the figure. Devin's persistence created the landscape that was continuous. Daryl's dream played in this space and punctuated it as did Corinne's action. The content of the dreams were erotic which played well against the dryness and sterility of Devin's actions. The physicality of Daryl also played well against the stoic body language of Devin.

Corinne's pumpkin-eater also shifted the dynamic but her frustration that no one was doing anything to challenge, change or object to the circumstance seemed grounded in the fact that she wanted to perform TOO. The decision to let Devin go "first" was determined by the fact that she was late in arriving and we decided that Devin should begin. Not knowing of the marathon to come was unfortunate for Corinne but her choice was to go ahead after expressing her frustration (I suppose of being prepared to do a piece that night). I'm not sure that was right to do but it provided another dynamic to the moment that we as audience had to contend with. The dramatized attack on the pumpkin-head - from behind - with the carving knife was violent and raised the tension in the air. Eventually though it seemed to be an inversion of the use of the pumpkin as decorative vs. essential (as food). The animalistic gestures seemed coy and seductive and simultaneously violent. It also seemed a reference to horror/thriller movies and "brain-eating".

The three simultaneous works occurred to me as the archetypal sibling rivalry at one point - each vying for attention and importance- a reactive response. All three actions oscillated between attraction / repulsion in ways I wouldn't have predicted. I found this fascinating.

After leaving class, being the only one left in the room with Devin, I poked my head into the room as I was leaving and thanked him for his efforts. What made me smile (again) was I noticed there was material stuck in his ears - a kind of earplug. At first it seemed he too couldn't handle the volume of the air horn. Then it occurred to me that this material was there from the outset and I hadn't noticed. Either way it made me smile.

I am curious to know how long the performance lasted after I left. I hope Devin finished the book and I hope he writes here also with his impressions of the experience.

Again, thank you all for a most stimulating class.

…also, I wondered what the book was the Devin was reading. I imagined Ulysses, Dante's Inferno, …

a night worth remembering

First, I would like to say that the class was astonishing to me.
Secondly, I think it is impossible to not address Daryl's actions here in the context of the experience (until it's time, as you say).
Thirdly, I am not completely prepared to write here so I will revisit this blog in the very near future. I am still digesting. I plan not to read the other entries until I have written my response.
THANK YOU ALL...more...

Oct 22

I had intentions for this performance. I don't feel like the were executed how I intended. Let me start by saying that Devin's piece was very interesting. He was very devoted to maintaining his action no matter what the disturbance. However, in so doing, I lost all care or meaning in the actual action of the performance, but only paid attention to his persistence- and how much it affected my piece.  That being said, on a more personal note I felt a little offended. Yes, I understand his piece was meant for the entire duration of the class if not longer. However, he knew there were other presentations that evening, and I felt like his piece could have at least gone after. His execution, I believe, still would have succeeded. I did not particularly have a good day yesterday. Coming back from work, I got stuck on 84 for what should have been 5 minutes- for an hour. I stopped to pick up my pumpkin and ended up arriving late. I parked in what should be an ok spot after 4:30, which a professor also assured me would be fine. I ran in to do my piece on time. Then we waited as Devin read articles and prepositions without stopping. I tried to be respectful, and stayed longer than any other class mate with the exception of Gene. When I knew the time for my piece was at risk, I asked the intent so I wouldn't be rude if I proceeded with my own. I figured I'd leave with everyone else, if that was the intention, but I knew his piece was going to last a lot longer. So when Daryl, too, suggested I perform my piece, I decided to do so. I didn't want to, because I really had intended my piece to be by itself. There was a point to that, but clearly I couldn't have it happen. I was going to do the piece out in the hallway, but when I had told Power Boothe earlier that my piece involved a big knife, he said as long as I keep it in the class room. So I couldn't move my piece, and I had gone through such a crap day to perform it, so I did. My appearance may have looked more angered because I expressed that I was a little angry to my fellow classmates before I performed- which was not meant for the piece. I'm just very unhappy it didn't go as I planned. I'm not saying Devin's piece wasn't interesting. It was very. But I just think, out of respect, we give our full attention to each other's performances. Thus in that aspect, to give the artist credit, we shouldn't waste their efforts. If there is more than one performance during our class, and yours is going to last the rest of the time, let someone else go first. I again commemorate you for your persistence, Devin. I just think you could have allowed either me or Daryl to go- or at least have given insight to us beforehand about the duration. It really changed the piece, as Daryl commented. It changed hers too. I could barely pay attention to hers and I would have liked to. I just thought last night was unsuccessful, then, for us all in a way.. Not to mention with all that- I still got a ticket on my car. Bastards want me to give them $100. So pardon my anger. I'm never usually in this crappy of a mood. 

my experience of class 10/22

I came to class having heard from a mutual friend of Devin and I that his performance was going to be very long and involve a loud noise. I normally wouldn't ask about someone's performance beforehand, but I'd been having awful menstrual cramps all day and wasn't feeling particularly receptive to violent or excruciating acts. The main thing I found out was that Devin's performance was supposedly going to last longer than the class period.

I sat and was very on edge for the first half hour because of the air horn. I relaxed when it seemed like nothing would happen, and listened to the patterns of Devin's voice and shifting bodies. I let my vision focus and un-focus on Devin and thought about whether what I saw was what some people call 'auras'. I heard a flock of seagulls! This was fine. I thought about how often we talk about being a captive audience, and assumed that the airhorn was there as a threat and that we were in a hostage situation. I guess it was around this time, about 45 minutes in, that I decided to start testing the rules. Maybe all of our talk about control and trust was making me antsy to not follow standard audience rules. Also, I know I can sit still and listen to things far less interesting than Devin reading particles of speech for 3 hours, so I didn't really feel like going through with this 'test' was necessary, if that's what it was.
So, I started digging through my bag, playing and texting with my cell phone, and writing small notes. None of these things triggered the air horn alarm, so I decided it was time to go to the bathroom. Since I knew that this was going to go on for so long, I didn't feel bad about leaving for some of it, but the anticipation of the airhorn punishment was enough to keep me in my chair for about half an hour after I wanted to go. Suddenly, the airhorn went off and I got out of my chair, reversing cause and effect somehow in my surprise. I went to the bathroom and walked around for awhile and returned to find all of my peers in the hallway. I guess I hadn't actually triggered the airhorn and my apologetic notes weren't necessary, though I'm glad I wrote them.

Corinne was very agitated that this was going on for so long, so I suggested that she just do her performance during Devin's. Even at this point, Devin had defeated duration in my mind and was a static presence, so it was fine to have her action take place next to his being. I watched Corinne rip apart a pumpkin with a smile and eat some of it. I hardly thought about it at all and watched Devin while she did this. It became a much more contained action framed by Devin's infinite reading. I wouldn't have liked it as much without Devin. I stayed almost until the end of class and then left. I felt obligated to stay for awhile because I wanted to pay respect to Devin's endurance and effort as well as the designation of 'class time', and I think that generally this is the reason any of us stayed after the twenty minute mark. However, it was apparent that we weren't meant to see all of this and I wonder if Devin is still reading right now!

testing the email all function...

did you get this? when you post to the blog all are sent the posting via email. gene

first considerations

Schechner's terms:
Being
Doing
Showing doing
Explaining "showing doing"

news of the day - first action 9/1/09

da crew...

WELCOME - hello world...

We will use this blog for thoughts and postings for the semester....