The Burden of Selfhood
|
The Burden of Selfhood (2017) • video installation, data visualization,
electronic music and live performance with projection mapping. Technology has accelerated the recursive gaze to the point that we continually perform and project back onto each other our internalized expectations for unattainable perfection. By combining research from cognitive science, music, poetry, video and performance art, this work investigates the experience of viewing and being viewed as a gendered body. This poly-vocal performance will use large-scale data visualizations and live performers to make explicit both the collective gaze and the implicit impact of being seen. Through projection mapping and large scale video, the face becomes a malleable surface bearing traces of all the data it absorbs. The Burden of Selfhood is a collaborative work by Fernanda Aoki Navarro, Stefani Byrd, Amy Fox, Sarah Ciston & Heidi Kayser. Performance: March 23, 2017 IDEAS Festival Calit2 - Vroom Auditorium UC San Diego |
A song to let go
|
A song to let go (2015) • multimedia installation and interactive performance
Music & Video: Fernanda Navarro Camera: Stefani Byrd Light & Tech support: Jessica Flores, Antonio Estrada, Daniel Ross. Documentation: Stefani Byrd, Carolyn Chen, Felipe Rossi, Tina Tallon Performance: January 29, 2015 Experimental Theater CPMC - UC San Diego |
The installation was designed to have 4 different environments, corresponding to our perception of space (height, length, depth, time)
- Height - Ceiling: pillows, traffic cones, heavy duty gloves, scissors and a net were hanged on the sealing with a fish line, creating a dream-like environment.
- Length - Floor: a 20 feet bubble wrap, a roll caution tape and a thick sisal rope were placed on the floor in a way to indicate the possibility of danger.
- Depth - Wall: a video projection of a huge hand that goes through a long exercise of letting go while the music is playing.
- Time - Music: Nostalgia, anxiety, longing: manipulating speed || Remembering, forgetting, renegotiating memories: re-signifying the past via polyphony || Several iconic love songs where the word love is extirpated || Desensitization via trauma and repetition.
During the first 10 minutes the audience is free to interact with the installation.
After that, the installation becomes a stage for a performance.
The performer destroys the installation by cutting the lines that suspended the objects in place, and handles the objects to the audience.
After that, the installation becomes a stage for a performance.
The performer destroys the installation by cutting the lines that suspended the objects in place, and handles the objects to the audience.
Instructions to the performer:
the performer should continue running against the wall until:
a) the performer gets injured by running several times against the wall, and is unable to keep performing the task;
b) the performer has a nervous breakdown and is unable to keep performing the task;
c) the performer learns how to let go and realizes that running against the wall is no longer necessary;
d) the audience stops the performer or the performance (however, the audience was not told that they can/should interact).
the performer should continue running against the wall until:
a) the performer gets injured by running several times against the wall, and is unable to keep performing the task;
b) the performer has a nervous breakdown and is unable to keep performing the task;
c) the performer learns how to let go and realizes that running against the wall is no longer necessary;
d) the audience stops the performer or the performance (however, the audience was not told that they can/should interact).
The audience is not told to interact with the performer. However, some people decided to interact in order to prevent the performer from running against the wall.
Me Me Me
Me Me Me (2014) • for a machista/ chauvinistic performer (or for a performer that doesn't think feminism is necessary),
multi-channel electronics, video, and e-mail.
The performer is surrounded by the audience in a semi-circle. A large screen is placed in front of them, and it displays a film.
A multi-channel "tape" is performed during the entire performance.
The performer is standing up, with their computer in front of them. During the entire performance, all they need to do is:
- Watch the film;
- While they're watching the film, they must uninterruptedly repeat "me me me me me" into a microphone that is both amplifying and recording their voice;
- At the same type, the performer must type the text prompted in the film, without typos;
- At the end, the performer sends an e-mail to themselves with the text they just typed during the performance.
Trigger warning: this piece contains strong images of women who were beaten, decapitated, murdered and ridiculed by man.
Performance:
March 17, 2014
Experimental Theater
CPMC - UC San Diego
March 17, 2014
Experimental Theater
CPMC - UC San Diego