Category: Performance process

The Kitchen Show

Elizabeth Soper / / Performance process, Research, Rooms

“Perhaps what is most interesting in Baker’s work, an ingredient of the adjective ‘incomparable’, is that her work cuts across any strong distinction between the visual and the performing arts.” ((Barrett, Michele and Bobby Baker (2007), Bobby Baker: Redeeming Features of Daily Life, USA: Routledge, p.3)).

Bobby Baker’s, The Kitchen Show was something I found particularly interesting to watch. Her performance was of her in a kitchen with a commentary over the top explaining what she is doing, why she is doing it, and how it makes her feel – in the style of a cooking programme. The only difference was it wasn’t about cooking in her kitchen; she was using the kitchen and items in it to create something unusual and absurd. It starts with her stirring a pan of soup with a wooden spoon. In order for her to hold the wooden spoon she decides to tape her hand in that shape so she can grip it easier. As she does this she describes it so naturally, as if it is a completely normal thing to do in a kitchen. This I found quite humorous, and as the show goes on the ‘tasks’ she does become even more outrageous. Below shows a clip of some of her activities:

dailylifeltd (2012) Kitchen Show by Bobby Baker, Online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIbzhmljz_k (assessed 3 March 2012).

Previously I have discussed ideas to change the kitchen completely, having objects in the space that aren’t meant to be in there. After watching The Kitchen Show, I very much like the idea of actually using the kitchen for what it is, with the absurdity of the rabbit being enough. I will experiment with what Bobby Baker did, using kitchen utensils in different ways, for example she tied a wooden spoon in her hair and wore a cheese grater on a piece of string around her neck, and talked about it like its normal. Someone dressed as a rabbit doing everyday tasks like making the audience cups of tea or getting them a snack to eat isn’t normal to watch, similarly to Bobby Baker’s work. It would also be quite a struggle to do everyday tasks with mitten-like hands, big rubbery feet and a giant head with limited space to see out of, and would therefore be very interesting to watch the struggle I would have to endure just to do a simple task.

Purging.

Jozey Wade / / Performance process, Research, Rooms

Performance artist Andre Stitt here talks about how he uses certain substances in is performances as representation for feelings/ emotions etc. Some of the substances he uses are chosen based on personal memories of his, like the use of tar and feathers. At the end, as the narrator points out, he pushes the boat he has covered in certain substances out into the sea and it can be seen as a release or “letting go” of the dark memories he and/ or the audience possess. Straight away this struck me, in relation to what I have been working on in the bathroom.

In his book, At Home: A short history of private life, Bill Bryson talks extensively about plague and disease in history and how a great deal of it has related to being unclean and not washing. In his chapter about the bathroom, he discusses how people in the Middle Ages thought that to “plug the pores with dirt” ((Bryson, Bill (2010) At Home: A short history of private life, London: Black Swan))  was the best way to protect themselves from plague. “Most people didn’t wash, or even get wet, if they could help it – and in consequence… Infections became part of every day life… serious illness accepted with resignation” ((Bryson, Bill (2010) At Home: A short history of private life, London: Black Swan)). Nowadays, obviously, we are aware of the fact that quite the opposite of this is true. We wash daily, to clean – or purge – ourselves of dirt and grime gathered through the day, and to prevent ourselves from smelling and getting ill.

This idea of purging made me think of Andre Stitt’s work as a kind of purge also – like in his performance Where the Grass is Greener as seen in the video above. How the ritualistic aspects of his performances – with the feathers and pushing the boat out into the sea – help him let go or purge himself of unpleasant memories or feelings. How could I apply this to the bathroom?

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After spending some time in there and sketching out some thoughts (as can be seen above), I tried to apply my previous ideas of how home life, or people within your home life can make you feel suffocated there. And how, more often than not, it is impossible for us to talk about these issues because we are just supposed to put up with them, or we think we are, if the people involved are family or people we love. Examples of this include overbearing/ strict parents (not necessarily physically abusive but perhaps), children with behavioural problems, loved ones with long term illnesses or even mental illnesses (like depression etc). I played with this idea of things we can’t say that grate on the inside of us, and how some sort of action or ritual within the bathroom could help us release this, or purge ourselves of it. (after all, as we have discussed, the bathroom is a place of purging anyway).

Everyone’s a Performer

Lauren Hughes / / CCTV, Performance process, Uncategorized

                                                                           DESAbigbrother

Image:Online-https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=big+brother&hl=en&rlz=1C1SKPL_enGB453GB494&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=LG5AUZ-DPfS00QXdoYG4Aw&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=643(Accessed 20/02/2013).

“There is no single ‘Big Brother’ who is watching over us but lots of little brothers each with their own agendas.” ((Norris and Armstrong (1999) The Maximum Surveillance Society: The Rise Of CCTV, New York: Berg p.7)). We are always being watched,  when leaving our homes each day for work, college or university it is more than likely you will be filmed or photographed through CCTV.

“Studies by Honess and Charman (1992), Squires and Measor (1996) indicate that only between one third and two thirds of the population using streets with CCTV actually know they are being monitored.” ((Norris and Armstrong (1999) The Maximum Surveillance Society: The Rise Of CCTV, New York: Berg p.92)). With this gaze constantly over them, are they performing? When we trip over in the street a rush of embarrassment takes over where our minds are telling us we are hurt however we find ourselves laughing as were all this this performance together, everyone’s watching.  When walking down a street we are always aware eyes are on us not only cameras but people in windows, across the road and in cars. When our audience enter the house on West Parade will they become aware of the cameras straight away or will they spend the whole experience thinking they are aware of whom and when people are watching them?  We can use this to our advantage and show the audience they can be part of the performance as well. As the CCTV group we have discussed how we will be involved in the performance and how the audience could discover our room and then watch us as we roam the house performing as they have for us. Through this performance we can portray how people always know they’re being watched, with subtle glances at the cameras to eventually holding signs to signify our knowledge of the cameras, similar to The Surveillance Camera Players. Another way of incorporating this into the performance is interrupting the mini performances in each room and handing a sign/ placard to an audience member or performer and asking them to hold it to the camera.

“The real power of site-specific work is that it somehow activates, or engages with, the narratives of the site in some kind of way. That might be with its formal architecture, or it might be with the character of the building.” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance, London:Macmillan p.35)). When entering the house other than there being a television in the front room, it’s very bear and uninviting, it’s not an ideological notion of a modern home. The architectural design of the house makes the CCTV room one of the last rooms you may see which changes your whole outlook on the house when discovering it and extends that feeling of it being unappealing even more. It crosses the boundary between the outside world and the privacy within a home with inhabitants being aware they’re always being watched which you shouldn’t feel within a home. This ‘Big Brother’ feel the house has is a great characteristic we can work with for our performance. The most eerie room for most of us in the house is the cot room mainly as it’s the coldest room and the fact it has a cot gives it a lot of potential to play on that creepiness for the performance and we have incorporated this room into both our trailers so far. The character of the house instantly triggers narratives for performance ideas as you explore all its rooms.

As the CCTV group we have decided to take our filming to other people’s homes and interview them on their thoughts of home. What is ‘home’ to them? Starting by asking them to take us to the room/ place in which they feel most comfortable and asking them why they feel so attached to that part of their home. And if they’re a student whether their ‘home from home’ feels homely or just a place to stay. Then we suggested the idea of making negative comments about aspects of their home to see if they would defend it or agree, filming their reaction to this. These recordings will either be used for a trailer or within the piece or just for our own research.

 

 

Beneath the Waters of Consciousness

Lauren Simpson / / Home, Performance process, Research, Rooms

alice in wonderland

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Alice : accessed 04/03/12

The act of the bedtime story is an intimate experience, usually shared between parent and child. It is almost always a private occurrence. So, by creating a performance with it and making it public, it no longer has the element of privacy. It is often understood that the mothers are more likely to read to their child than fathers. “Not only do mothers still do the majority of shared reading, studies suggest that they do it more effectively than fathers.” ((Blake, J, & Maiese, N 2008, ‘No fairytale… the benefits of the bedtime story’, Psychologist, 21, 5, p. 386-388, EBSCOhost: accessed 27 February 2013. Page 387.)) Having a mixed gender group, this is a concept that can be challenged. Would an audience member respond differently if read a story by a male rather than a female?

“Storytelling is sometimes seen as an innocent activity best suited to young children” ((Killick, S, & Frude, N 2009, ‘The teller, the tale and the told’, Psychologist, 22, 10, p. 850-853, EBSCOhost: accessed 27 February 2013. Page 850.)) Therefore, combining the sexual content of a raunchy novel with the innocence of a fairy tale blurs this theory. The audience go from the safety of a bedtime story to the unnerving effects of the adult content. Because they won’t be expecting it, then it should come as a shock to them.

“Beware the stories you read or tell: subtly, at night, beneath the waters of consciousness, they are altering your world.” ((Killick, S, & Frude, N 2009, ‘The teller, the tale and the told’, Psychologist, 22, 10, p. 850-853, EBSCOhost: accessed 27 February 2013. Page 850.))

If this quote is true, this story should stir a deeper reaction than just uncomfortable shifting or nervous laughter. Even though the audience are not going to sleep, the crossing over of child and adult content may have an effect on them after they leave the room. They may look at fairy tales in a different light and be able to pick out the Freudian elements in a lot of them. Alice in Wonderland itself is a very Freudian story.

From cowboys in the street to rabbits in the kitchen

Elizabeth Soper / / Performance process, Research

Lone Twin’s performances are public involved, and performances are built on the interaction they have with their audiences and the reactions they get from them. Gary Winters and Gregg Whelan, who were the founders of Lone Twin, are not actors, and do not use acting in their work, they perform as themselves. When discussing their work, Gregg spoke; “So it’s not at all an actorly thing; it’s just a reporting back, and trying to give it some space.” ((Williams, David and Carl Lavery (2011) Good Luck Everybody: Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances, Conversations, Wales: Cambrian Printers)). This is something I have mentioned before that I will be doing – not acting as if I am a rabbit, but just being myself in a rabbit costume.

One of their performances called ‘Totem’ involved them dressed as cowboys carrying a full sized telegraph pole in a straight line through the city of Colchester. Some members of the public would stop and ask them what they were doing and others would even join in and help them carry it for a while. Their work includes the public and that helps them structure their performances: “The first times that it happened people were suddenly, without any framing of it, inside the piece, doing what it was we were doing.” ((Williams, David and Carl Lavery (2011) Good Luck Everybody: Lone Twin: Journeys, Performances, Conversations, Wales: Cambrian Printers)). The notion of interacting with the audience, their lives and their stories over a cup of tea in the kitchen while dressed as a rabbit I think will be very interesting to see how they actually do respond.

Pinocchio Pipenose Household Dilemma

Another idea that could be incorporated is having some sort of installation piece, which would be interesting as some of my ideas were to completely change the purpose of the space, which is the concept of installation art. Paul McCarthy’s works show the way he used fairy tale like characters and changed how they are viewed, making them absurd and shocking. One example would be in 1994 when he dressed in a Pinocchio costume with a mask and a long plastic nose attached to it, in a house like setting. In the piece he uses the nose to blow bubbles in a bowl of ketchup and force feeds chocolate spread through another Pinocchio nose and then covers himself in it. It is something to be watched and doesn’t include interaction with audience members. The idea of using fairy tale characters works well with my performance as my idea came from The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Perhaps creating something absurd could also work as the dislocation of having a giant rabbit in a kitchen is initially quite surprising and this concept could be played around with.

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McCarthy, Paul (1994) Pinocchio Pipenose Household Dilemma, Online: “http://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Pinocchio-Pipenose-Household-Dilemma/7CACBC3406FEFD05” (accessed: 24 February 2013)