In exactly the allotted time, the shadow moved from the tip of my toes, up my body, and across the top of my head.
While I generally create durational performances, this time I was asked to make a 30 minute performance as part of this festival. We had been meeting in the building all week, and so I had a chance to consider the different spaces that were possible to use for the performances. The building was a converted factory building, and housed art-related businesses and studios. The space that intrigued me most was on the 8th floor. It was a space open to the sky, with a covered area on one side. The surface was made of cement squares, which were outlined in green grass. I chose that space for my performance, and asked to be first on the program, from 2 to 2:30.
I didn’t have a plan for what I would do. My initial visit to the space was in the pouring rain, but then the weather cleared and I had to consider it differently. What was most striking in the sunlight were the shadows cast by the structural elements of the space. The space was nearly blinding when the sun shone on the white painted walls. Bright white, dark shadows, and green squares.
I discovered that if I set my chair on a certain square in the space, I would be fully lit in the bright sun at 2 pm, and then a shadow would move to my toes, extend up my legs and body and pass over my head so that I was completely in shadow just at 2:30.
The audience entered at 2, sitting under the covered area, looking at me sitting in a chair in the glaring light, waiting for the performance to begin. Eventually they noticed that in fact I had already started.
I was tracing the line of darkness moving up my body with my hands.
The sun performed.
I left at 2:30, when I was fully in shadow.
