A performance for an audience of one person at a time, which took place inside their heads.
The evening performances took place in an empty storefront. They were sited in different parts of the space, so that the audience moved around the room each time a new work started.
My performance took place between the other events, indoors and outdoors on the street. I approached individuals in the audience with a simple question, “Do you trust me?” If he or she answered yes, I continued.
“Will you close your eyes?”
“Can I put this shawl over your head?”
“Can I hold something to your forehead?” I placed a small metal music box high on their brow above the cheek.
“Will you listen?” I slowly turned the handle, and the faint tune of ‘Greensleeves’ played.
But for the listeners, the sound was much louder inside their heads, amplified by the bone of their skull, heard internally.
When the song was completed, I asked:
“Can I give you something to eat? I will put it into your mouth, just open it.”
I placed a few seeds of cardamom in their tongues.
“Now you can chew.”
Cardamom is a common spice used in Swedish baking. But the unground seeds are very aromatic, like menthol in the way that they expand in your air passages. The oil is volatile, and disappears quickly when the seeds are ground, but whole seeds provide an initial burst of sensation.
“You can open your eyes now.”
“Thank you.”
Even though it occurred in a busy space, it was an intimate performance experienced very privately. It took place literally inside their heads.
