sittin’

title: sittin’ with cabot square

year: 2012, 2013

location: square cabot, montréal, québec, canada

supported by: the canada council

blog for the project: http://sittinwith.wordpress.com

-scanned newspaper headlines -dimensions variable
-ink on cotton rag paper – 20 x 27.5 cm
-orange peel on 22 x 28 cm graph paper – dimensions variable

travel to a location and occupy a place.  sit.  occupy a place with your body in a deliberate, consistent and repetitive manner.  sit.  the same place occupied daily.  a daily traveling to a location to occupy a place.  sit.

your body assumes a place. you have no choice in the matter.

you stay with.

what you do not do speaks as much as what you do do.  you do not sing a song of protest, you do not hold your hand out, you do not lie down.

you eat an orange.  put the peel in a brown paper bag.  note the date, the temperature, the wind-chill factor, the angle of the sun, the possibility of precipitation. you pick up a newspaper.  the orange peel, the newspaper, these accumulate over time.

what you do not do speaks as much as what you do do.  you do not advance, there is no advancement here.  things split, snag on, accumulate at your base.

to follow the project go to blog: sittin with

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

title: sittin’ with moncton

year: 2011

location: city hall/hôtel de ville, moncton, new brunswick, canada

duration: 3 days from 9am – 5pm

supported by: jè-st’: festival d’art performatif et d’intervention

 
tuesday, september 27, 2011

i am the intervention. my body taking up space, occupying a place, here, in this public square. for 3 consecutive days, september 26th, 27th, and 28th, i will be here, at place moncton, 655 main street, in front of city hall, in front of bmo financial group. i sit on a bench from  9:00 to 17:00. with breaks, lunch and coffee. three days is not long. i am not sure what will happen, if “anything” will “happen.”

to read more – sittin’ with moncton

. . . . . . . . . . .

sitting on a bench in a public space is something we want to believe “anyone” can do.

to read more – sittin with moncton (2)

. . . . . . . . . . . .

wednesday, september 28, 2011

it is an interesting question. how do we judge what “counts” as a performance  and what defines for us the word “performer?”

to read more – sittin’ with moncton (3)

. . . . . . . . . . .

thursday, september 29, 2011

today is my last day sitting on the bench in front of city hall on main street in moncton, new brunswick. today photo and video documentation is arranged. i am watched as i watch. the day unfolds, the scenery changes, two new flag poles are placed in their slots and two new flags are raised. picnic tables and blue garbage drums are brought in. i recognize some of the “users” of the place while other people coming and going are new to me.

to read more – sittin, with moncton (4)

. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

title: sittin’

year: 2010

location: union station, toronto, ontario, canada

duration: 9 days from 9am – 5pm

supported by: 7a*11d international festival of performance art

press: steel bananas

i am wondering what it means, what it asks of us to locate the body between the active and the utterly passive, between standing and lying down? i am wondering what it means to sit in a public space as a deliberately repeating presence.
a presence marked as female.

. . . . . . . . . . .

to read more – sittin’ for 7a*11d

Advertisement