1|Fallen Mana: Day 3

April 4. 1999

Brookfield, IL

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As school children make their way home, they encounter their neighbors actively collecting chicken from the street. In this work, the neighbors remove the chicken from the flooded road until the road emerges back into sight. A man waters his flowers across the street.

3hrs 45 mins

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The collection of the mana discusses modern excess. The idea of a, “chicken in every pot,” has now been turned on its head; how about chicken flooding into our garages? King size and bulk packages already flood our daily activities. The work discusses our liberties and questions whether we take them for granted. When the excess is contextualized in a traditional setting, in a store or in our homes, it becomes a part of our natural surroundings, but when the products are recontextualized on the street, these issues surface for discussion.
The un-easy celebration of our freedoms by the participants of this performance leaves them troubled in locating themselves within the midst of the abundant, and over saturated environment. The chicken makes a direct reference to the Atkins Diet, where to lose weight one consumes large quantities of animal flesh or protein. Have we been led to this reality through our rate of consumption and production? A strange equation remains: we battle the effects of consumption with more consumption.

Diet
 
 
2|Lisa Symphony

June 9, 1999

North Royalton, OH

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A circle of young suburban teenage girls has congregated at an intersection near a local middle school. Each sits on a purple or blue chair with wheels and faces sheet music. Surrounding them, daily neighborhood activities carry themselves out at an even, heartbeat like pace.

2hrs 15mins

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In this work the whimsical nature of products for young girls, such as the binders and pencils by Lisa Frank, is combined with the savvy and critical nature of Lisa Simpson. This introspective work deals with me and my attempt to control activity through performance.
Here the girls control the daily events that tickle these suburbs. The symphony of each day is punctuated by the notes that make up that symphony. While I remain the ultimate conductor of this symphony, the girls (that reference an orchestra) control the events within the performance, and have been given the opportunity to freely summon those events made avaialbe to them by me. One girl controls a school bus, while another informs a woman how to walk her dog, and so forth.
The concept of “business as usual” is turned on its head as the girls make conscious compositional choices. The sheet music references the traditional structure of the day; with an implied beginning and an end delineated by the sun’s movement across the sky, including all that fits in between. Even though the piece has it’s own beginning and end due to the nature of performance, conceptually the events remain non-linear.
The congregation of the girls, being centered at an intersection, specifically imposes on the neighborhood’s routine traffic, creating for a new dynamic for that environment.

Girl Stuff

 

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
3|Eternal Solo

October 12 2000

Cooper City, FL

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Two city children enjoy an inflatable jungle gym on a softball field located in the surrounding suburbs. A tall woman with a keyboard has stationed her bike in the open space behind the children and calls attention to passing trained squirrels with the compositions from her keyboard. The faint sounds from her keyboard and the gleeful screams from the children emphasize the afternoon's mellow bitter sweetness.

20mins

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The notion of pop stardom and fame is challenged in this performance by the question: Do we live in an informed vacuum? The only audience members for the performer are the squirrels, while the playful children remain unaware of her activity.
Both of the activities, the children's play and the performer's performance, involve a self contained sense of joy. The difference between the two lies in the innocence of one and the tainted nature of the other. Her happiness rests in a goal that relates closely to interactions with other individuals, here she creates a world in her own mind that deals with others, this world is an illusion. The happiness of the children lies in recreational activity, removed from the social.
Such a piece literally plays with modern sayings derivative of Zen Koans, such as the one about the tree falling in the forest, or the one hand clapping. Are we isolated in our own quests? In our lives we are our own biggest reality TV shows and stars. This reverse logic is developed after media informs us about this voyeuristic activity. The world of media is a simulation of our social environment, often exagerated to create an exciting illusion of that social scenario.
Pop culture often employs a the tool of referening to an anti-pop aesthetic, such as that of the Avril Lavigne (the girl next door), Ani DiFranco, or even Limp Bizkit. This contradictory logic enhances the illusion that we ourselves are pop stars, while in reality, pop stardom is derived from us. We spend more time obsessing over our own lives than over any one star. Our understanding of pop culture only functions in terms of our understanding of ourselves.

Young Pop Star
 
 
 
 
4|Million Dickhead March

May 23, 2001

Cleveland, OH

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Next to Case-Western Reserve’s Harkness Chapel, crowds of modern day swordsmen rain down upon the walkway, but not necessarily united! Each individual seems to carry out a personal quest.

1hr 25mins

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In order to explore pop related social taboos, I created an event that functioned as a release for the performers. Each character has access to a sword, and freely carries out childhood dreams and fantasy. Each character has been long fearful to fight in such a glorious and epic battle a battle. Despite the each battle’s internal nature, they still remain individually sacred to each performer, fueling a unified universal and global struggle.
The scene relates to the notion that waged wars have the intent of preserving the way of life of a large group of people. Here the struggle remains symbolic, referencing our daily use of language. The sword functions as an element that we maneuver daily in order to communicate our identities with others, despite our differences. Unlike war, this language does not involve death and suffering to millions, despite the very implied nature of the weapon used.
The goal here is not to condemn this “nerdy” activity because it unifies the characters beyond race, social status, gender, age, or occupation. This activity does not differ from any other activity because all of us have varied enough tastes and differences to make such activities rather arbitrary in nature.
Role playing games and game theory have informed this performance, but the detached nature of the characters attacks the notion that games should base themselves around a symbolic point system centered around the concept of an external victory. Here the performers fight a desperate symbolic struggle for a very internal victory.
The biker’s head cropped by the frame relates closely to the gaze of the audience witnessing the spectacle.

Swords
 
 
 
 
 
5|Dial 9/11

November 12, 2002

Rockville, MD

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A Ford Taurus station wagon has recently been abandoned in a parking lot by its' driver due to the passenger's seizure. The driver rushes to dial for help, 911, while some characters from the lot approach the vehicle and others stare blankly and stand confused.

30mins

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The inspiration for this piece evolved from recent events relating to my two cousins, David and Bryce, and serves in memory of Bryce, lost in the rubble from the second plane crash on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. Coincidentally, David has recently been stationed off of the coast of Syria regarding the Liberation of Iraq in March 2003. The events involving both brothers contradict each other; 9/11 thoroughly shook my family to the core allowing for patriotic sentiment, while the war has left us feeling betrayed by our nation.
The performance includes one character for David and another for Bryce. The two towering brothers also symbolize the Twin Towers. Here, "Bryce" stands confused and barefoot to the left, directly connected to the earth that has buried him, while the glow from the afterlife illuminates him. "David", mobilized by the skateboard, holds a soccer ball which stands symbolic for international competition and war, a competition based on very real victories: victories based on life and death. The character in the car represents the psychological tension of 9/11 and the war, while the mourner to his side makes reference to the mourning females in David's The Oath of the Horatii. This work functions within the logic of Neo-Classical painting, where art functions in service of politics.
The two parked vehicles also discuss the duality regarding my cousins and the twin towers. One vehicle, new and lit as if being presented in an advertisement for a new car indicates the presence of Capitalism's role in the events, while the vehicle to the right represents that same notion in the 80's and how it has deteriorated. This indicates a need for progress; we live in a society where nothing is new for long.
The third vehicle, the rusted Ford Taurus station wagon, refers to an American lifestyle centered around the nuclear family that will deteriorate due to the rate of consumption required to maintain such a lifestyle. It is key to keep in mind that vehicle's need for fuel, here the vehicle is tilted, exposing the round flap leading to the gas tank.

9/11
 
 
 
 
6|Kosher Day

March 10, 2003

Poughkeepsie, NY

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Today something strange carries itself out in a quiet suburban neighborhood; two male characters carry packages of pig’s feet from the front to the side of a house, dumping them behind the fence. Some packages are thrown and others are carefully placed within the space behind the fence.The house faces an endless park with evenly planted trees, and a white Volkswagen Beetle has been abandoned due to the sectioned off state of the upcoming road.

2hrs 45mins

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The foot of the pig is the very aspect of pork that identifies it as an non kosher food item). This work discusses the concept of symbolic sin. Based on the organization/disorganization of those symbolic elements, a bizarre tension is formed. Pork’s feet resemble our own hands enough to make the consumption of the animal contradict religious law. The split hoof of the calf remains within safe bounds, and therefore kosher; the resemblance to us has been lost. The form of an animal’s foot can arbitrarily dictate routine. The question remains: Is it fair to create such bounds? Are certain life forms “dirty” and other’s “clean”?
In this work , the intent of the characters remains unclear, making their activity mischievous. The activity remains confusing throughout the performance. One character remains distracted by a telephone conversation while the other aids him with the packages mechanically. The characters have only one mindset; to confine and conceal the pig feet behind the fence.
Both characters sport the same footwear in order to bring attention to their own feet. This footwear stands symbolic for human achievement. Luckily the boys have not experienced the severing of their own feet, and are free to make choices regarding the feet of other animals.
The arms that theatrically wrap themselves around that fence symbolize our critical nature. These arms remain curious about the activity, and hope to open the fence in order to reveal the true intent behind such doings.

Kosher Food

 
7|My Dads

May 5, 2003

Beaver Creek, Ohio

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The shadow of a voyeur is cast over a strange cult-like ritual organized in a typical suburban backyard. Men enveloped in cloth reveal an arm or a leg while convulsing on elements from the yard. The ritual, led by a central figure who has seemingly replaced his head with that of a boston terrier.

1hrs 35mins

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This work disusses the concept of American freedom in relation to an extremely contradictory alignment to a Protestant religious mindset. Here, the strange ritual challenges those traditional notions through the very rationale that the ritual is strange. The reorganization of daily materials, such as bed sheets and pets, allows for a confused event portraying a foreign routine, much different than our own. This allows for a new and unexpected experience which challenges the notion that practices deviating from our own are immoral.
The presence of the dogs suggests practices relating to beastiality, and the title indicates a homosexual tendency in the performance. The wrapped individuals relate to the work of Christo, where he claims an object or landscape for art through the specific framing process of enveloping. The lack of traditional garments makes reference to nudity because the garments function to hide that nudity, when our traditional wear has moved beyond that basic function to include expression related to our identity (a chef wears a hat, a punk wears spikes, etc.). This links back to the shrouds and coverings worn in Classical painting, often revealing flesh, but serving to emphasize nudity through containment.
The dismantled bird feeders serve to reinforce the notion that something has gone wrong, even though they remain objects, and in actuality exist only in the material world as things. We read significance into them based on our understand of what how they should be organized.
In this performance, light has been trained on objects in shadow to emphasize a supernatural state.

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Boston Terriers