scheuklappen

'Die Tanzerin Palucca is leaping free through the forest, Marinetti's Feet can be seen below the shrubs, Emmy Henning's 'Dancer' is strangling us to death, Hugo Ball can't stop screaming at us from behind the trees: 'Why must we restrict ourselves to minimalism?!!!' 

With playful irreverence for these mythologies, and the traditions of a certain past, we broke down the fourth wall a long time ago. We are not illusionists. We are searching through the rubble for possibility. What impedes individual and collective expression? Is there freedom within form? Can we utilize stricture to apply clarity to chaos with sincerity?

scheuklappen: models as restrictive guides (2010)

felt, adhesive, straight pins

work in progress

I am working on a process based research project. Its shape will evolve through gesture, drawing, video, and sculptural methods. I am gathering information that entails a dialogue with my colleagues concerning their various backgrounds, relationship to art history, and theoretical concerns. I want to know the underlying philosophy behind each persons practice. I will construct a series of blinders, from felt and transparent adhesive. These objects will be designed specifically in response to the personal information gathered, and tailored for each individual. The intention is to produce models as restrictive guides. We will then take time to work independently of one another, wearing our separate blinders and experimenting with productive sensory restriction. After this period of research I will adapt these individual scheuklappen into a whole to form a collective soft sculpture. Together we will wear the resulting object as we perform various tasks. Together we will take a walk in the woods, we will trip over each other's perspectives, we will drink our morning coffee, we will have a discussion while we sip our nightcaps, and we will see what this accumulative monster produces. The documentation (video), sculptural elements (material processes), mind-maps (drawings), and theatrical events (Gesture) will provide the foundation of the project.

instructions

Instructions for an Unexpected Absence (2010)

instructions, studio 303, montreal, quebec

mp3 audio track

Instructions for an unexpected absence is an invitation to occupy an empty stage. It is a pragmatic text that came from a desire to exist in two spaces at one time. I could not be present for the performance but wanted to offer someone my place on the stage. It was intended as a gesture of affection to the people I could not encounter. With the aim to play with limitations, and an ability to adjust to constraints, a series of propositions were developed. 

The performance consists of a mp3 audio track where I apologize for my absence and invite the audience to take my place on the stage. The participants are then lead through a series of simple movement instructions.

photo credit: jean-francoise lalumiere

180 seconds (2009)

short and sweet, la sala rosa, montreal, quebec

A performer is given the simple instructions that she must transport herself form the stage to the bar without touching the ground in 180 seconds. 

Communication cross Continents (2009)

le party, la 2e porte a gauche, montreal, quebec.

http://www.la2eporteagauche.ca/

A series of instruction were sent to a group of performers from Berlin to Montreal. A series of restrictions were imposed, a set of tasks were to be fulfilled. The improvisation was framed by these limitations.