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.
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?