In this workshop you will create performance actions as a direct response to a particular environment or social context that you encounter. Participants will examine how aspects of a site can be used to generate performances that are unique to that location. You will design performances that respond to the history of a site or to its current uses, that work with materials that are found at a location, and consider how the architecture or design of a space influence the way both audience and artist bodies move through it.
We will experiment with the differences between interactive events, interventions, secret performances, and actions that are designed for particular audiences. We will consider how art might infiltrate daily life, and how performance functions with a public who are not expecting to encounter art. Finally, we will consider questions of documentation, finding ways to record actions without impacting the experience of the audience.
Responding to a site requires that you pay attention to your experience of the location. But perhaps more important is the task of paying attention to what it is that you are noticing. You will more fully understand your own practice by learning to recognize what compels you, which in turn will allow you to develop your work more deeply.