Choose (chance encounters)

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The Western Front
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by Marilyn Arsem

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Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

1670364901_78f10e9c6d_oweb

Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

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Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

1671231560_43b3e0df62_oweb

Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

1670379255_d1df5fc605_o

Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

1670369195_fcc431252f_oweb

Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

1670377413_0fd1068cee_oweb

Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

1670373191_438cf83bee_o

Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

1670375225_2cea0341f2_o

Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

1670367047_1ca9dce7c9_o

Choose (chance encounters)
for audiences of one
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
Vancouver, BC, Canada
October 19, 2007
photo by William Ting

Choose (chance encounters) was a performance that engaged with individuals one at a time, and was structured by chance. It was presented in a bedroom at The Western Front.

event:
LIVE Performance Art Biennale
venue:
The Western Front
location:
Vancouver, BC, Canada
sponsor:
'Participatory Dissent: Debates in Performance,' curated by Natalie Loveless
date:
October 2007

Project Notes:

Choose (chance encounters) was designed as a meditation on daily life, and was performed in a domestic space using the materials of everyday living.  It was presented in a small guest bedroom of the artist-run space, The Western Front.  All the materials, if not already in the room, were found within a square block of that location.

Actions and materials for the event were selected by the participant in a chance-operational process.  The option of choices that the visitors would make (which are listed below,) were written on wooden disks.  They reached into different glasses to select a disk from each category. Using that combination of elements the participant created a short action or activity in the room with me.

While the choices were based on everyday reality, the random combinations resulted in small events that highlighted different senses, altered our awareness of time, made us pay attention to the mundane in a new way, opened up into personal or political content, and revealed the dynamics of power and control in relationships.

 

Verbal state

Silent

Speaking

 

Kind of Lighting in room

Darkness

Electric light

Daylight

Candlelight

 

Physical placement in the room

Stand on floor

Stand on bed

Stand on chairs

Sit on chairs

Sit on bed

Sit on floor

Lie on bed

Lie on floor

 

Sense to use

Look

Touch

Listen

Smell

Taste

 

Materials to use

Leaf

Balls

Flowers

Fruit

Water

Tea

Newspaper

 

Topic

What have you forgotten?

Read to me

Tell me what you know

What would you change?

Tell me a childhood story

Imagine your future

Tell me a secret

Tell me a joke

What frightens you?