Dreams (breathe/don’t breathe) of Home

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Dreams (breathe/don't breathe) of Home
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

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Dreams (breathe/don't breathe) of Home
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

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Dreams (breathe/don't breathe) of Home
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

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Dreams (breathe/don't breathe) of Home
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

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Dreams (breathe/don't breathe) of Home
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

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Dreams (breathe/don't breathe) of Home
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

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Dreams (breathe/don't breathe) of Home
Mobius
Boston, MA, USA
photo by Bob Raymond

Dreams (breathe/don't breathe) of Home, from the Pigbaby series, explores the cyclical nature of life in death, and death in life.

venue:
Mobius
location:
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
sponsor:
Mobius, Inc.
date:
November 1986

Project Notes:

Since 1987 this piece been presented throughout the United States and in Taiwan, at galleries, festivals, colleges and conferences, including the Cleveland Performance Art Festival & Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NYC.

Dreams (breathe/don’t breathe) of Home is one of the final performances of the Pig Baby series, which began in 1984 in collaboration with Bob Raymond. The works explore the cyclical nature of life, using images of life in death, and death in life, through a series of ritual activities using various natural materials such as meat, fish, bread, hair and bones. The impact of the odors of the materials is an important aspect of the work.. The sources of the imagery are dreams, fairy tales, mythology, and meat counters in grocery stores. The personas of child, mother and crone appear in each piece. Many of the images hover on the line between humor and horror, creating a disturbing tension.

The first task is to make bread, and while pounding the dough and forming the loaf, I add handfuls of long hair to the mixture. I put it into an toaster oven, where it bakes.. The primary activity of the performance involves sculpting a new creature from seagull wings, chicken feet, and a large fish. The operation of sewing wings and feet onto the fish can be difficult, and usually requires assistance from the audience, if only to distract the patient. Animating this creature requires not only giving it a voice, but also engaging the active participation of the audience’s imagination.

Meanwhile, the odor of fresh baking bread permeates the room. The winged fish floats/flies through the audience and ends hovering over the table. At that moment, the bread is removed from the oven, broken open and put on the plates. The combination of the smell of hot hair and fresh bread creates an olfactory experience that is complex and disturbing The final vision, as the lights slowly fade, is of a goblet of crimson liquid overflowing and bleeding slowly down the front of the spotless white tablecloth.

Unacknowledged, but always present, an enigmatic woman sits in the background, behind a curtain of bones. She seems to be asleep or dead until the very end, when her eyes slowly open and she looks at the audience. That moment could be considered the dramatic action of the piece.

Subsequent performances took place throughout the United States in the 1990s, including the Cleveland Performance Art Festival, OH & Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, NYC; as well as in Tainan, Taiwan in 2000 and Taipei, Taiwan in 2004.

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