subtle architectures subtiles: 3e imperial, granby, quebec.

Subtle Architectures Subtiles (2008)

3e imperial, granby, quebec

chalk, ruler, carved photographs from performance documentation.

http://www.3e-imperial.org/

During a one-month residency at 3e imperial, Granby, Quebec, I worked to develop the project Subtle Architectures Subtiles. My daily work consisted of constructing and shifting spaces along a meandering. Granby is a small town and I often found myself working alone. I began to wonder what it would be like to have other people accompany me in this process. I invited people to show me the spaces they frequented. They took me for walks around town and described the quality of these locations. It was this aspect of the process that prompted a restructuring of the project for the subsequent Dare-Dare series. 

raumanderung: ein formloses diagramm

Raumanderung: Ein Formloses Diagramm (2008)

sternbrueke, ilm parc, weimar, germany

contact microphones, wireless transmitter, amplifiers

A performer moves on site. Contact microphones, attached to foot and hand, transmit the sound of her movements to amplifiers placed at a distance from the location. An informal diagram is constructed by the placement of speakers in space, one on top of the bridge, and on either side of a sight line. the performer engages with her containment, an acoustic and rhythmic dialogue between logos and the sensing body.

plastic dynamism

Plastic Dynamism (2008)
performance mix, new york city, u.s.a.
felt, rubber tubing, industrial thread

The project Plastic Dynamism was developed though a process of movement. Prosthesis from felt and rubber tubing were built. I proceeded to move within these containments to inspire the building of others. through a process of accumulation an abstract figure was constructed. The resulting sculpture was worn for a series of live performances and documented with super eight. This footage was employed for further productions and a short film in collaboration with Solomon Nagler and Steve Bates.

plastic optimism: a practice in enabling constraints

ignition 4, leonard and bina ellen gallery, montreal, quebec.

felt, mini speakers, mini lcd screens, foam core, wood, bungee cords.

photo credits: caroline boileau

A series of soft sculptures were built from 1" industrial felt, a headpiece for one occupant, and another for two. The completed sculptures were hung from the ceiling by means of bungee cords. Small amplifiers embedded in the walls of these constructions played back simple instructions for movement, step to the right, up, down. A third sculpture included steps that lead up into a foam core building. The participant was encouraged to place their head within, in order to view footage of a person moving within an institutional setting, the original foam sculpure placed upon her head. 

plastic optimism

Plastic Optimism

An ability to adjust to ones surroundings, to utilize structure as a means to propel oneself forward towards invention

Enabling Constraints

A method utilized to provide structure to chaos, to present clarity amidst a proliferation of obstructions

A stubborn curiosity, to engage with the boundaries that contain, to press up against borders, to consider seemingly concrete forms as malleable.

Certain determination

Subtle shifts of spatial design

Agility upon encountering obstacles along a meandering

You fall into a hole, the next time you encounter the gap, you perceive it, but still tumble within, meeting the opening a third time, you observe it, pass along side, evading the collapse, only to trip into the next

A process of thinking through movement

Improvise with perceived limitations

Agency

An intention that informs the decision regarding a movement

Towards a certain disruption of spatial order

A methodology

Pass through form to recognize its function

A certain fondness for incongruity

Abstract articulations

Kinesthetic negotiations

Neurological acrobatics

day two

subtle architectures

day two: 05/20/07  

subtle five (revisited):
I revisit the last site that I performed in the day before. I have three observers who have come prepared to find me and follow the performance. This drastically changes the feeling of the event. The anonymity is lost and I am self-conscious of my actions, in a manner that is altered by familiar faces.


subtle six: bus stop, telephone booth, bicycle parking

A lady asks me what I am up to as she draws in a long hale on her smoke. A man is talking on the telephone. An observer comes to sit with me and introduces himself. We speak for a while before I depart.

subtle seven: exterior hudsons bay

I am joined by a young women, She is wearing pajamas and has a kinetic, faced paced, movement. She wants to play with the chalk. We spend some time together drawing on the pavement.

I return to this spot later and find that the yellow lines have been cleaned up and the only trace of the performance left behind is a drawing that the young woman drew on the road.


subtle eight: loading dock

I draw myself a large space. I work within the confines. There are not many people around. I have the time to explore the boundaries to the fullest extent. In this spot, an empty loading dock, I seem to go unnoticed by the passers by except for the occasional glance in my direction.

visualeyez : day one

subtle architectures
day one: 05.19.07

http://visualeyez2007.blogspot.com/

The initial inspiration for the project Subtle Architectures came from the presence of yellow lines in front of government buildings. These lines designate smoking areas and I enjoyed watching as people stood just inside the demarcated space, in order to bend to exhale. Their gestures touched on my interest in the construction of social and private space.  

The first realization of the project took place during a ten-day residency at Visualeyez Festival, 2007. This event is hosted by Latitude 53, Edmonton, Alberta, offering artists an opportunity to test out new projects in an atmosphere conducive to research-creation. For this initial series the locations and times were not announced. 


subtle one: parking meter
A pedestrian walks over the yellow chalk lines but shows no sign of recognition. The physical performance is rendered invisible in close proximity.



A man shouts out from a car window, are you having fun?


subtle two: empty lot Two young women run out of a hair salon, are you all right? The shout is heard from a distance.


subtle three: parking lot
There is a twenty-story apartment building near by. Faces are looking out of windows, watching from above.

subtle four: pedestrian sidewalk
Waiting for rain, a man asks as he passes by.

Driving in there cars, people watch from a safe distance.

The cars slow down but do not stop.

subtle five: Park Bench
People double glance.