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, …