Thursday a.m. Idea Post 09/03

Today I shot the first two of my new performances for the semester and found it more difficult to stand back and watch the performer. These two performances were centered on uniformity and disarray and how the performer would get from one of those to the other with the specific tasks set forth. The time leading up to when I shot these performances, I felt in complete control because I was the sole creator of the concept and the rules that I would give my performer. I have spent a lot of time with how I thought it would turn out and even photographed a trial run of one of the performances and decided that I did not like the amateur lighting used. Because of that trial run, I decided to move all of my future shoots into the studio and photograph these performances in a clean, spacious, and bright space. I felt very much under control choosing the background color, selecting which strobes to use, the distance the lights were from the background and subject, the use of umbrellas, the position of the camera, and desired angle for the whole performance. Once I pressed record on my video camera to record the sound only of the performance I relinquished all power to my performer. There were specific moments during the 15-minute performance where I was getting restless, anxious, and just wanting for something to happen unexpectedly. For example, there was a point where I thought my performer was getting quite frustrated with her task and I was hoping for some sign or noise of that struggle. I wanted her to move around, make the shot interesting and dynamic. But then I realized that I was subconsciously attempting to fabricate the performance and my main intent for these performances is to have the performer perform; and not in my way. But, I wanted it. I really wanted that extra hint of what was going on within my performer’s head.
I have found myself relating my new performances to Sarah Oppenheimer’s “Lecture” performance and Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece”. I admire these two women for their work but now especially I admire them for their ability to create work that they have little power over. I feel as an artist, my own work is something sacred and very much about who I am as a person. Therefore, naturally I would want to know exactly how my pieces are going to turn out and be done with it. This new spin that I have put on my work for the semester is serving up some different challenges for me. However, I am hoping these new challenges are strength builders in terms of me as an artist and me as a person

Ono's "Cut Piece" Article