The Object Lesson

"The only thing that is different from one time to another is what is seen and what is seen depends upon how everybody is doing everything." - Gertrude Stein

This is an installation of ink drawings and image projections that Ben Purdy and I created at Liminal Presents Gertrude Stein. We used projection mapping and a generative computer program to progressively fill the drawings with portraits of people over time. Our project was a visual response to Gertrude Stein's novel, The Making of Americans, and her attempt to write a history of every American. Here's what we said about it in the program:

"In the living we are doing there are things that make us and things we make, something like bubbles. And the space between holds the possibility of unexpectedly anything. So making this has been a tracing of unending families of foam and residue. And it is something like the making of the Making of Americans."

Press
Willamette Week, March 21, 2012

Created for posters, book covers, and as a way to visualize performances and installations. Mostly graphite, charcoal, gouache, oil. There's some silverpoint in there, just for the love of obscure technique.

At the Watermill Center, Water Mill (Southampton), Long Island.

On Saturday June 20, 2009, a group of collaborators and I presented an event at Robert Wilson's Watermill Center, based on a residency at the center spanning several months. The work traced connections between Robert Wilson’s secluded artistic laboratory and the labyrinthine writing of Raymond Roussel, a posthumously celebrated French writer of process-generated literature. The Ariadne’s thread that linked Roussel and Wilson passed among disparate agents, including a photo of their mutual admirer, Louis Aragon, and the theatrical reverence that both gentlemen hold for portraiture, extremely durational process and the ritual totems of non-modern cultures.

During the day-long summer solstice performance event , guests had the opportunity to discover the diverse ways that we superimposed a Rousselian universe onto Watermill’s sprawling building and grounds. This included a reenactment of Roussel’s daily 20 course private meal, costumes and activities made in collaboration with students from the Hayground School and the Girl Scout Brownies of Suffolk County, replicas and interventions of Robert Wilson's art collection, live music and performance.

My collaborators for this project included Elizabeth Adams, Amanda Boekelheide, Ryan Dohoney, Emcee C.M., Master of None, Huong Ngo, Julia Rich and Chris Piuma. Download the event menu (PDF).

At the Chocolate Factory, April 24-26, 2008.

This was a collaborative performance project that I began in the fall of 2007 with Composer Aaron Siegel. He invited me to direct the live and visual components that would accompany the musical score and libretto. The performances evolved over three nights and took place at The Chocolate Factory in Long Island City. My collaborators included Siegel, the FLUX Quartet, Ryan Dohoney, Kate Soper, Emcee CM, Jeff Gray and Huong Ngo. Download the postcard (JPG).

Scope Art Fair, Miami Beach December 7-10, 2007. 

This was a project that I made while on the television series Artstar. For our final project, a group show during ArtBasel Miami, I created a “fake" art fair on the periphery of the “real” one and encouraged a group of local kids to take back their neighborhood from the commercial art world. I printed the performance as a conceptual score left in the Artstar booth, while we went outside to make our art fair with the kids. We used a nearby basketball court behind the Art Fair tents, and started the project with some basic materials (chalk) to re-define the b-ball courts as numerous galleries filled with art and words. Pretty soon, a dozen or so kids started helping; first by re-copying whatever I wrote, and then eventually by creating their own art. Download the Peripheral Art Fair proposal (PDF).

For Portland Center Stage’s 2007 JAW West Festival.

There were roughly 20 people arranged in a line of stillness that started at a table of theatrical props and costumes, snaked through the lobby, and ended along the sidewalk outside the theater.

What is a still act? A ‘still act’ is an arrangement of people and objects held in stillness for long durations. The term comes from anthropologist Nadia Seremetakis who uses it to describe social events that can alter our normal modes of perception and attention. In these performances, I arrange people and objects in stillness for long durations. The effect is similar to the theatrical tradition of tableaux vivants, which were used for religious and ceremonial processions prior to the Nineteenth Century, and as a form of trompe l’oeil entertainment up to the present day. My still acts are meant to draw passers-by into a radically different experience of time and space where they must decide what to do in response. Some photograph the scene, some try to go around it or through it, some add themselves to the stillness, some interact with the performers, and some do all they can to avoid getting too close. The still act invites the audience to consider their mode of attention, and offers them a heuristic opportunity to react to the performance. Over time, the still act is not entirely still. Imperceptible movement occurs, muscles shake, and the spectacle changes due to forces that the performers cannot control. The more the actors attempt to suspend life, the more things work to break the stasis.

Performed at the SAIC performance space for the 2007 Goat Island Summer School.

This was one of the last still acts that I created in Chicago. Inspired by the situation comedies of Lucielle Ball and a still life painting by Frans Snyders in the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, I created it with David Cook and Ryan Tacata.

What is a still act?

A ‘still act’ is an arrangement of people and objects held in stillness for long durations. The term comes from anthropologist Nadia Seremetakis who uses it to describe social events that can alter our normal modes of perception and attention. In these performances, I arrange people and objects in stillness for long durations. The effect is similar to the theatrical tradition of tableaux vivants, which were used for religious and ceremonial processions prior to the Nineteenth Century, and as a form of trompe l’oeil entertainment up to the present day. My still acts are meant to draw passers-by into a radically different experience of time and space where they must decide what to do in response. Some photograph the scene, some try to go around it or through it, some add themselves to the stillness, some interact with the performers, and some do all they can to avoid getting too close. The still act invites the audience to consider their mode of attention, and offers them a heuristic opportunity to react to the performance. Over time, the still act is not entirely still. Imperceptible movement occurs, muscles shake, and the spectacle changes due to forces that the performers cannot control. The more the actors attempt to suspend life, the more things work to break the stasis.

Part of the City of Chicago's Looptopia Festival, May 11, 2007.  

Photos by John W. Sisson.

As part of the events surrounding Chicago’s first all-night Looptopia event, I worked with a large group of 30 performers and musicians to produce a performance in two parts. One part of the performance took place in a gallery within the Chicago Cultural Center building and involved an installation with musicians and a strange variety of domestic objects and actions. The second part was a long-duration still act with 25 performers arranged in poses drawn from art historical references. They appeared sprawled out across the east and west building entrance steps. Both parts took place simultaneously. During the performance, the streets of downtown Chicago, as well as the Cultural Center building, flooded with thousands of people. Eventually, the crowds became so dense, that the police closed off the streets around the Cultural Center, and locked the doors of the building to prevent more people from entering. But we stood still throughout…

What is a still act?

A ‘still act’ is an arrangement of people and objects held in stillness for long durations. The term comes from anthropologist Nadia Seremetakis who uses it to describe social events that can alter our normal modes of perception and attention. In these performances, I arrange people and objects in stillness for long durations. The effect is similar to the theatrical tradition of tableaux vivants, which were used for religious and ceremonial processions prior to the Nineteenth Century, and as a form of trompe l’oeil entertainment up to the present day. My still acts are meant to draw passers-by into a radically different experience of time and space where they must decide what to do in response. Some photograph the scene, some try to go around it or through it, some add themselves to the stillness, some interact with the performers, and some do all they can to avoid getting too close. The still act invites the audience to consider their mode of attention, and offers them a heuristic opportunity to react to the performance. Over time, the still act is not entirely still. Imperceptible movement occurs, muscles shake, and the spectacle changes due to forces that the performers cannot control. The more the actors attempt to suspend life, the more things work to break the stasis.

Part of the Annual Richard Foreman Festival, August 17-18, 2007. 

Photos by Scott Jackson.

I created a still act on the lawn at Portland's Performance Works Northwest. In this still act, a sprinkler clicks and a man in a lawn chair sleeps with a can of beer in his hand. A mother in a party dress holds a birthday cake in her outstretched arms. And the beer spills. And men hum on a porch and candles burn on the cake. And a woman reclines on a blanket with balloons in her hand. And a girl in a wading pool cradles a plastic houseplant. And the sprinkler soaks the man who is sleeping. And lawn torches blaze. And the cake slips from the mother’s hands and an overturned television shows a woman tied to a chair. And she yells. And a blindfolded man holds a pin and a tail near a picture of a donkey on a tree trunk. And someone passing on the sidewalk holds a melting ice cream cone. And a rogue who is caught in the headlights clutches a suitcase.

What is a still act?

A ‘still act’ is an arrangement of people and objects held in stillness for long durations. The term comes from anthropologist Nadia Seremetakis who uses it to describe social events that can alter our normal modes of perception and attention. In these performances, I arrange people and objects in stillness for long durations. The effect is similar to the theatrical tradition of tableaux vivants, which were used for religious and ceremonial processions prior to the Nineteenth Century, and as a form of trompe l’oeil entertainment up to the present day. My still acts are meant to draw passers-by into a radically different experience of time and space where they must decide what to do in response. Some photograph the scene, some try to go around it or through it, some add themselves to the stillness, some interact with the performers, and some do all they can to avoid getting too close. The still act invites the audience to consider their mode of attention, and offers them a heuristic opportunity to react to the performance. Over time, the still act is not entirely still. Imperceptible movement occurs, muscles shake, and the spectacle changes due to forces that the performers cannot control. The more the actors attempt to suspend life, the more things work to break the stasis.

Performed at various sites around Chicago between 2006 and 2007.

It was graduate school and I was interested in still life painting and the way objects and people assemble into groups. Stillness seemed like a good way to slow things down for more careful looking.

What is a still act?

A ‘still act’ is an arrangement of people and objects held in stillness for long durations. The term comes from anthropologist Nadia Seremetakis who uses it to describe social events that can alter our normal modes of perception and attention. In these performances, I arrange people and objects in stillness for long durations. The effect is similar to the theatrical tradition of tableaux vivants, which were used for religious and ceremonial processions prior to the Nineteenth Century, and as a form of trompe l’oeil entertainment up to the present day. My still acts are meant to draw passers-by into a radically different experience of time and space where they must decide what to do in response. Some photograph the scene, some try to go around it or through it, some add themselves to the stillness, some interact with the performers, and some do all they can to avoid getting too close. The still act invites the audience to consider their mode of attention, and offers them a heuristic opportunity to react to the performance. Over time, the still act is not entirely still. Imperceptible movement occurs, muscles shake, and the spectacle changes due to forces that the performers cannot control. The more the actors attempt to suspend life, the more things work to break the stasis.

SAIC performance space, May 2007. 

This performance was an extension of my MFA thesis (which also included several still acts). It was a concert performance expanded from an event that we did at Links Hall. The performers included Ryan Dohoney, Mabel Kwan, Nick Anaya, Hannah McKeown and Kara Kane. 

A concert performance at Links Hall, Chicago. April 7, 2007.

The performers were Ryan Dohoney, Mabel Kwan, Nick Anaya, Hannah McKeown and Kara Kane.

At the Portland Art Center, May-June 2005. 

Photos by Basil Childers.

The Resurrectory was a live action facility created by Liminal Performance Group to investigate the science, spirituality and commerce of death (both real and fictional). Resurrectory staff worked on investigating the rituals and meaning of death in history, as well as the trafficking of human bodies in modern scientific times. A central component of the Resurrectory was the reenactment of the infamous Burke & Hare case of 1827-1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. While in operation, Resurrectory staff re-presented the murders of Burke & Hare's nine victims in order to learn more about what motivated their demise, how they literally died, and how their bodies became employed in the service of modern medical science. At the same time, an anatomist and four digital musicians presented an anatomy theatre lecture to describe the physical (and metaphysical) process of death with a three-dimensional film created by Jim Blashfield.

Press
Artweek, July/August 2005, Vol. 36, issue 6
Portland Mercury, June 2, 2005
The Oregonian, May 13, 2005
Willamette Week, May 11, 2005
Portland Tribune, May 5, 2005
Portland Mercury, May 4, 2005

A performance of three plays, simultaneously. 

Presented in April, 2002. 

This Liminal performance was a large exploration of narrative structure that combined three short plays about five people into one performance. Unlike a play in three acts, the three plays were performed simultaneously on three raked stages where dialogue and action overlapped to create a contrapuntal arrangement of voices, sound, images and movement. Three Plays, Five Lives also focused on the collision of several independent elements of action and media in live space. The technology in the space responded to the sounds and movements of actors through multiple digital sensors that magnified the intensities of their physical presence.

Press
The Oregonian, May 5, 2003
Willamette Week, April 25, 2003
Portland Mercury, April 24, 2003
Portland Mercury, April 17, 2003

Performed at Liminal Space, September-October 2003. 

Video clip by Frank Marroquin.

Liminal’s Faust(Faust) was a repeating ritualized performance installation based on the epic tragedy of Faust. Fragments of the Faust story were presented by actors, vocalists and live musicians in four rooms symbolizing the elements of earth, air, fire and water.

Press
Portland Mercury, October 16, 2003
The Oregonian, October 10, 2003
Willamette Week, October 8, 2003

A concert of American minimal music, performed at Liminal Space, February 2003. 

Minimal at Liminal was the first in a variety of performances by Liminal that surveyed the ensemble’s roots in avant-garde music, art and theater. This performance was directed and conducted by John Berendzen. I participated in the performance and in the design of the show.

For this particular production, American Minimal Music primarily referred to the compositions of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass, who all began to focus in the early 1960s on the audible transformation of small musical phrases through repetition and the execution of processes determined by the composer.

Reviews
The Oregonian, February 25, 2003
Willamette Week, February 26, 2003
Willamette Week, February 21, 2003

A concert of old and new Flux, presented at Liminal Space, March 2003. 

Liminal organized Fluxconcert PDX, the first Fluxus event of its kind in Portland, Oregon. The evening consisted of several short performances executed by Portland artists from classic Fluxus scores and several entirely new Fluxus scores conceived for the event.

In late 2003, I participated in Lightbox Studio’s unique three-director production of Bertolt Brecht’s short play. Lightbox Studio engaged three directors to examine The Exception and the Rule from three perspectives. I was  interested in re-constructing physical actions from director Ian Greenfield’s naturalistic direction of the text, so I deliberately removed Brecht’s language and gave Ian’s actors a simple rule for reconstructing their actions. The rule also served as an overlay onto Ian's set, and was projected on a wall behind them during the performance.

Performed at Panorama Nightclub in Portland, Summer 2002. 

Liminal produced Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s lesser-known epic sung ballet, The Seven Deadly Sins. Liminal’s hour-long electric cabaret featured the original German score sung by mezzo-soprano Lyndee Mah, a live chorus of male singers, a digital orchestra by John Berendzen, and live piano by Stephen Alexander. The performance included a cast of 12 and was directed by Bryan Markovitz (who received a 2003 Portland Drammy for this work) with movement direction by Catherine Egan and Amanda Boekelheide, and an original Liminal translation by Emily Ford that was projected in supertitles above the stage.

Press
The Oregonian, September 5, 2002
The Portland Tribune, Aug 30, 2002
Portland Mercury, August 29, 2002
The Oregonian, August 23, 2002

Performed at the Metropolitan Art Studio, November 2000. 

Interrupt, was a retro-engineered multimedia performance installation where audiences, performers and technology could interact. Resisting the temptation to put the latest shiny new technology on display (not that our budget allowed much temptation), Interrupt explored the underside of progress - meltdown, misfire and miscommunication. Within the performance space, audiences participated in the operation of a mechanized, yet functioning dystopia where ‘high’ technology served the most crude ends. Interrupt was directed and programmed by John Berendzen and created by over a dozen Liminal company members and invited artists.

Press
Willamette Week, November 15, 2000

Performed at Liminal's storefront gallery, the Metropolitan Art Studio.

In the Spring of 2000, Liminal presented Peter Handke’s The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, a play that highlights the comings and goings of more than 400 characters who pass by one another without speaking a single word. Set in a language-free city square, Liminal returns storytelling to the spectator, while quietly suggesting that people don't need language to form a community. This project also featured the work of visual, sound and culinary artists who produced an edible pre-performance gallery installation, digital sound design, and slide media.

Press
The Oregonian, April 13, 2000

Performed at the 2001 Seattle Fringe Festival, the Dekum Building in Portland, and DYNAMO Gallery for the LIVE Biennial of Performance Art in Vancouver, BC, January-August, 2001.

Objects for the Emancipated Consumer was a performance made of textual and narrative fragments told by actors as they pursued clues about the ambiguous possibility of a terrorist crime (9/11 was still a few months off). What made this performance particularly interesting was the way that we gave visitors the ability to change the experience through an interactive media system that allowed them to alter the course of the action. To do this, we built a “duty-free” shop in the airport terminal where audiences could “purchase” bar-coded objects that, when scanned by the performance’s central computer system, would alter lighting and sound conditions and activate media that actors were obligated to respond. Objects was also featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting's show ArtBeat.

Press
The Georgia Straight, Vancouver, BC, November 1, 2001
The Oregonian, April 22, 2001

Performed at the Rose City Ballroom, Summer 1999. 

The Evening with the Photograph was an original work that explored the lives of five characters trapped in various parallel worlds, which were connected by Dr. Saxe, a scientist living on the border between genius and insanity. As Dr. Saxe’s experiments progressively failed, the performers and audience were led along a course of events that question the nature of gesture, performance and the point at which the virtual becomes real.

Press
The Oregonian, June 19, 1999
Willamette Week, June 14, 1999

Performed in the underground parking garage of the Portland Building, Fall 1999. 

This Liminal project merged a visual art installation with a deconstruction of an American drawing-room drama. Jowl Movements I-IX took a satirical look at the world of high art, consumer culture and the media, while contradicting its own critical structure and meaning. Indeed, the play layered so many elements, that it is difficult to accurately describe the experience. Even the three press releases sent to media contradicted the performance by offering three completely different descriptions of the story.

Press
Willamette Week, November 4, 1998
The Oregonian, November 6, 1998
The Oregonian, October 23, 1998

A performance installation at Reed College, February and April 1998.

This early Liminal event was co-sponsored by Reed’s Division of Arts and Division of Language and Literature in conjunction with a public forum that Liminal organized to address the state of contemporary art in Portland. Over 150 people attended the discussion, which included a panel of Portland notables from the contemporary arts scene. Handke Salmagundi was a performance installation that mixed text from Austrian playwright Peter Handke with physical actions, sound and light media. The installation was a repeating hour-long event that consisted of several scenes performed simultaneously.

A play by Sam Shepard, August, 1997. 

Liminal’s first project was performed at the PAN Theatre during a very warm Portland summer. Our staging put the play's two roguish detectives into a world of anomalous initiations and deviant experiments that became the ensemble’s rite-of-passage. The production incorporated live musicians, programmed slide projections and physical action, Suicide in B-flat inspired the dissolution of narrative structure and tension that characterizes much of Liminal’s work.

Press
The Oregonian, August 20, 1997
Willamette Week, August 13, 1997