Summary of Performance Art
Class Projects for ART2191
(2025)
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Gesture Project: Peek A Boo |
I chose the peekaboo gesture because it is a game often played with very young children to amuse them. As performance art, it is expected to elicit a joyful response and promote connection and conversely it might provoke fear. The game teaches object permanence, builds bonds, and strengthens eye contact. It relies on trust and kindness, and I suspect it could also provoke/heighten/remind the players of insecurity, rejection, and disrespected boundaries. It can’t be played alone. It can be played with one or both hands, or by moving a finger to uncover an eye. You could also use an object like a towel. You don’t have to say PEEK A BOO. You could hide behind a corner or tree. It works best with two active players. You could try it with players of different ages, or maybe with a cat. You could increase the pause before the payoff. You could mix it up in a crowd in lots of ways: working your way around a circle, pairing people up, changing up the pairs, repeating the gesture, adjusting the length of the gesture. You can be standing or sitting. Context is everything here, I think: classroom, waiting room, funeral, in a line-up at the bank, day care; to give a few examples. It would make no sense in situations that have an expected response (like instead of I DO at a wedding), but I think some people would still laugh. Mathematically, you could keep cutting the time in half to sublimate, but eventually you wouldn't notice the difference. You could also reduce/increase the physical space between players. |
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Object Project: Oven Mitt Bingo |
Kitchen oven mitts bear witness to all sorts of activities and statements in a household, amicable or not. What if the statements were recorded over the years, then called out as bingo prompts in a dark game where the bingo cards had emojis not numbers on it? Could you put your hand up in a room full of players if you won? |
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Culmination Project: Swap Space I |
The performance of Swap Space consisted of a guided walk across campus, followed by a rock swapping event. The destination (STEM building) for the Swap Space was announced to the walkers prior to the group’s departure from the Visual Arts building. The group also walked back to the Visual Arts building together after the swap. THE WALK The walkers sped up and slowed down on their own accord, and halted abruptly whenever a stop was called out by the guide (to cluster the group for a recitation). The group loosely spread out and did not remain clustered while walking between stops. They talked a lot, and quieted down during incantations by the group leader at each of the stops. The group of walkers was the same to and from the swap. No additional walkers were accrued and none were lost along the way. THE ROCK SWAP Not all participants in the walk participated in the swap. However, they remained in the designated swap space with the actively participating group members during the swap. Some participants stood during the swap, and others were seated. Small swapping clusters emerged during the swap. The box of rocks remained central and accessible to all group members, with a few participants making offers from the box itself. The people who were already seated in the designated swap space when the group arrived neither left nor actively participated in the swap. The swap played out around these de facto participants. During the swap, most participants were offered souvenir thermal print photographs (taken with a children’s digital camera) of people posing with their rocks. The performance ended of its own volition when the swapping activity ground itself to a natural halt and quieted the space. Participants were then reminded to return their rocks to the box, many reluctantly did so. |
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Reperform / Activation Project: Swap Space II |
“The experience was pure joy.” The thermal prints were enlarged and set up gallery style on opposing walls. A box of rocks and a sticker camera were placed in the middle on a plinth. At one end of the gallery wall was a chair, with headphones and a new recording of the words used as the incantation from the first event. During the performance of Swap Space II, the artist was presented with six sticker photos from the participants. One participant also gifted the artist a rock from their personal collection. Participants were encouraged to find their rock from Swap Space I and take it home. Most did. |