Reflections: Performance piece

Self Reflection

My finished project is called “Don’t Turn Around”. It consists of an arrangement of chairs in which each has a set of instructions. All of the audience members actively participated in the event. There was one person in the front of the room facing the wrong way and once everyone had time to find a seat and read their instructions one participant was instructed to open the door. This was when I entered the room. I then started taunting the one person to look back. I made loud noises, ran as close as I could to the one person whispered. As I performed these tasks some of the audience interacted with what I had done by the rules written on their card.

I started out thinking about what I would find interesting about human nature. I decided to figure out what exactly it takes to create an emotion. In this case this emotion was vulnerability. My original idea was to have three people sitting on a couch behind the crowd. The crowd would not have of been able to turn around and then the three people sitting behind them would start commenting on their features which one would deem personal. The comments would not of been terrible and after the three people commenting have left the room everyone would have to write an emotion on a paper and put it into a hat. After everyone would pick an emotion and read it out loud. Over several weeks from the time I had thought of the idea to when I had to perform, my idea had almost changed completely. I believe singling one person out would make them feel less protected by the group of peers with my original idea.

My work is a balance between movement and sound. For the individual who is at the front of the class unable to turn around this piece is mainly sound. They were not able to turn around and all they could do is hear and never really have a sense or where things and sounds were. The only visual the individual at the front would have is the sight of shadow of the performer. The lights were set up to create a triple shadow so her perception of sight is not trust worthy. For the rest of the audience who is situated behind the individual at the front of the room they actively participated in the performance by creating sound based on what instructions they received. Their senses were not tempered with so for them the performance had both visual and sound elements.

I believe I have achieved the acquired goal of creating an emotion and sense of being vulnerable. Comments on the critique reassured my goal. Such comments as, "my perception of where people were was completely thrown off" and "I am still shaking and palms are sweaty".

This piece connects with my current theme and interest of human nature. This piece fits this category by exploring the capabilities and feelings an individual will feel when faced with the loss of perceptions, and being singled out.

Looking back at my proposal I feel like this piece was executed with the same image and idea that was portrayed with a few minor changes. I decided to take the faulty objects out and add an onion at the start. I felt the faulty objects would not of contributed to my piece and the onion created a sense of being uncomfortable. There were two problems when performing the piece and it was the instruction cards not being clear enough, and there was an extra chair for people to sit in. These problems drew away from the overall piece. To change these problems I would have the right amount of chairs and make the instructions more clear. Overall I believe my ideas and techniques were effective in creating emotions within human beings.

Reflection of Harmony

The concept of your project is very intriguing. The way your piece was set up it instantly offered the participants excitement. This was due to the participants waiting outside anxiously thinking of what could be going on inside the room. My first thoughts that arose in my head were the images of someone passed out at a party. The spot light pointing at you helped zone the audience in and I personally could not focus on anything else. Having everyone walk in separately really allowed for the person to be more creative and draw what they wanted to instead of what the individual’s perception of what the audience wants them to draw. Having one person go in alone also allowed the piece to be more personal. I do not think this level of freedom and intimacy would have been achieved. Personal excitement to participate would have been lowered. This would be because watching someone paint on your face could produce the same emotions as actually painting on your face. Your performance also dehumanized your body. It became just a canvas for us to paint. This is interesting because it allowed the participants to open up and not feel any remorse or other feeling towards you. Once this happens the true nature of humans are revealed. I believed your piece accomplished this glimmer of truth of every participant.

Overall the performance has a lot of good characteristics and it is an interesting way to look at a performance piece. I feel like this piece needs very little improvement. The only thing I could think of is being in a different room with different lighting. The room was still slightly distracting with the reflective walls still lighting up most of the room. I believe if it was done in a room that can be made to be completely dark and with an overhead spotlight your audience would not be able to think anything else but “must paint on face”. The addition of music could really change this piece in a number of ways. The total atmosphere would have been changed and depending on genre I believe it could drastically change what pictures are painted. Such as classical music would spark more complex drawings or heavy metal could spark more skulls and cross bones painted. I believe this could easily be made into a performance piece in a gallery.

Your piece was entertaining to watch and it is creative. The way it was set up was well thought out and contributed to the piece. It would be interesting to see your piece done with a larger crowd. There would almost have to be a larger canvas such as just wearing shorts. This would be interesting to see how the art builds over time with less and less space being available to paint on. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in your performance, thank you.