Time:

With our piece showing vulnerability we needed a substantial idea to bring everything together. As the piece we want to create will be durational therefore the idea of time was always in the back of our minds. By adding  a countdown clock  to the piece it will give us as performers and the audience the feeling that something will to happen within the time frame of 1 hour 50 minutes and 27 seconds. The task is to make ourselves as vulnerable and exposed as we possibly can within the time frame. The Countdown will be projected beside our mental vulnerability video. The piece will last 1:50:27 minutes, although this is not a very long durational piece, I do believe it will give us hopefully enough time to explore and expose ourselves in a room full of audience members. By having the clock projected for all to see it should in essence capture the audience and make them choose between staying in the room out of curiosity of what will develop within the set time frame.The idea to make the piece a durational piece was influenced by our work in class, as we were replicating Marina Abramovic’s The Artist is Present. Although we are not going to do our piece for as long as Abramovic, I have learnt from the experience that the longer you are left your thoughts the more you personally expose your thoughts therefore in theory if we are left with the key themes of vulnerability and exposure we will delve deeper into our own thoughts, and insecurities.

A Development in appearance:

The performance space has changed somewhat from our original idea. During our tech run we had realised that it had lost some of the concept of vulnerability and exposure. We were hiding behind microphones and spots and we had seemed to have created a barrier between us and the audience. This was not what we wanted at all. We want the audience to feel vulnerable, and be part of the performance space. Therefore we made the decision to split the space. By halving the studio it transformed our piece, it automatically creates a more honest, vulnerable and intimate relationship between audience and ourselves. In order to break down even more the audience performer barrier we are going to add a sofa for audience members and ourselves to sit on. This will be situated in conjunction with the door on the opposite side of the space. This giving the audience members the opportunity to walk through the space and sit comfortably. Having the sofa strategically angled in the corner means that the audience will be more exposed to the space around them and at us.  We shall be moving around the space, standing amongst the audience, in front of them or even far away as possible from them throughout the piece. Spatially with us changing the layout, and having the mental vulnerability video playing simultaneously with the timer on the back wall I feel it is essential that the free space in front around the projections will add an atmosphere, and will give us more of a special awareness and relationship with the audience, other members of the group and the space.

Initial Idea of the Performance Layout:

Final Performance Layout:

By having essential objects in the space and two simulations projections I feel the piece has taken a good and needed transformation from our original setting. The simplicity of the space, I also think will increase to a degree the relatable relationship of exposure and vulnerability between us, the audience and the space. Through making the space more intimate, it in theory should make the audience feel more vulnerable and maybe perhaps uncomfortable as the performance will contain nudity and content that some may find upsetting, the fact that we are choosing to make the space smaller gives the audience no room to dodge anything said or done. They can only be distracted by their own thoughts. It will depend on their own choice.

This is similar to a Marina Abramovic and Ulay collaboration entitled Imponderabilia. In which herself and Ulay stood naked in the main entrance doorway  of the museum, facing each other. As the public entered the museum they had to pass between them. In an interview with Paula Orrell, Abramovic stated that ‘Each person passing has to choose which one of us to face’ (Orrell, 2010). This can be echoed through our choice as performers to make the performance space more intimate. The fact that we are making the space smaller gives the audience a choice of where and what they want to engage with. They can choose to look at us taking our clothes off, choose to watch the video or even choose to walk out.

 

Works Cited:

Orrell, P. (2010) Marina Abramovic + The Future of Performance Art. London: Prestel Publishing Ltd.