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.