Edith on Performance

I see performance as a re-organization of our potential to be active, where the potential is then framed as an artistic form of expression. The goal in my performances is to reverse the notion of performance, where events are orchestrated so that they refer back to daily life, allowing for me to include a twist or a hint of the performative aspect within that event. The performances remediate daily life, but performance is my life, and therefore the activity echoes and becomes highly self-referential.

Edith on Framing and Contextualization

I organize my work outside, to be viewed through a window by the spectator at an organized cocktail event for each performance. This allows for a literal pun on the concept of framing. The window frame also makes reference to the classical notion of painting as a window to the world. I ask, “Why not look through a window?” In painting the events within the window are composed, and in this composition of elements, illusion occurs. Paint has been organized to suggest literal forms such as an arm or a sword. I ask, “Why not just have those forms?” An artist composes the lighting in a painting to create illogical lighting situations where an emotional state can be expressed. I ask, “Why not simply manipulate light to allow for that state?” I carry this out in my work through the use of a system of mirrors, hidden from sight and controled by volunteers. The viewing space, the window, only allows for the audience to experience so much, and other elements such as the lighting devices remain hidden from sight.

Edith on Symbols

We organize our understanding by layering meaning on top of meaning on top of meaning, and so forth. We take emotion and connect it to different materials or organizations of materials, as well as people, allowing for a complex network surrounding us that we consider to be our environment. For me, the excitement in my work lies in the reorientation of those symbols. Manipulating the organization of symbols, relating to both people, and materials, allows for curious experiences that help me to convey ideas to my public. For me it is important to keep in mind that my activity, that of reorganizing symbols, in itself becomes a symbol, and an easy way to phrase this is “Art”.