Ritual, Duration, and Relation. Solo

Solo Performance

G
(duration)
G’s performance included two props, tweezers and a mirror. Throughout the entire piece she continued to hold focus on herself and the almost obsessive plucking. I feel the piece (perhaps inadvertently) echoed Marina Abramovic’s Art Must Be Beautiful, as well as matters of femininity and race and the parallel between beauty and pain.

Emilio
(ritual)
Emilio had us; the audience, enter a dark room lit only a soft spot light- he then proceeded to light a candle and whip himself. By whipping himself it added a sound element to the piece that I found very effective in bringing us into the ambiance of the performance. As Emilio climbed up the ladder he chewed biscuits and spit them out the entire way up (I’m not sure how high the ladder was, 12ft?). Upon reaching the top he read out names, that at the time I wasn’t sure what they were, but he then announced “Dictionary of Fallen Angels” and dropped the book. Again, the sound drew us further into the performance. He then climbed down the ladder and ate the cookies that he had spit on the ground. The piece told the story of colonization

Quan
(ritual)
Quan’s performance was a ritual in a more traditional sense, it started soft and quiet then grew into somewhat of a panic. Or perhaps the sound of someone else crying sends me into a panic? The only thing I will suggest to Quan is maybe working on an ending. I think that’s an area we could all work on. I’d like to end without saying “finished”.

Molly K.
(ritual, potential for duration)
Band-aids and ballerina slippers, I understand that the two go hand in hand, but I can’t help but feel there is some juxtaposition in the in the habitual thinking of the two. It was interesting to see the process that goes into such a seemingly delicate practice.

Pierce
Ah! Prior to our performances I took a joke of Pierce’s seriously when he said he was going to put the cigarette out in his eyes. So when he lit the smoke I started feeling extremely anxious and scared, but also highly intrigued. My viewing of this performance was most likely much different than most of the class because I was anticipating the self-inflicted burn. I like that Pierce’s explanation for his method of extinguishing was F.T.W. or Fuck The World.

Lisa
Humming the song from Cinderella Lisa, dressed in a veil and skirt made of plastic picked up flowers and slowly when through the metamorphosis from high-spirited princessesque girl to someone being swallowed up by a bag (the once skirt) was at times quite unsettling, however that’s paired with thought provoking.