For my project I changed directions from my midterm project, where I made photographs of women with words that sexualized them. In previous blogs I went in a new direction that is performance. I want to focus on making true connections with people, not by dialog or through a screen but by actions; I want to break the "language barrier" and the "technology barrier" because in this new generation our main focus will always be a screen in front of us. I feel like we need a break from screens, and that is why I made this intervention. "Remember, our hearts are one. Even when we are at war with each other, our hearts are always beating in unison." -Yoko Ono. My plan is to make a "Living Rhythm" circle. This did require six participants to sit at a table that had the mini pamphlets we made in class with instructions on them; it had the title in the front and three steps, and the third step explained why they were doing the steps. This is a reminder we are emotionally and physically interconnected, whether we want to or not.
This performance was done in the lobby where Valentina lives. This performance made the participants be involved physically and emotionally, making them sit down quietly in a circle. Even though the idea was to be quiet and focus on trying to feel the heartbeat of the person next to them, there were some instances where the audience was laughing because of awkwardness or not comfortable. The exercise showed that we are so used to being surrounded by other noises that it is hard to sit still and silent with a group of people that may be strangers. The audience that was watching was really staring because it was weird and interesting to see a group of young people being in a circle, quiet and laughing; they saw that I was filming and didn't want to interrupt.
Living Rhythm is an inspiration of several artists like Marina Abramović with her use of "the body as both subject and medium" and her ability to create tension and real connection through silence and awkwardness. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer with his Pulse series, where a room was filled with three hundred light bulbs, a computer detected the participant's heartbeat, and made the light bulbs flash to the exact rhythm; and Yoko Ono with her "instructional art," where the artwork can simply be with the participants' participation and physical actions. A big inspiration was from her book Grapefruit, where I saw this "Beating Piece," where it says, "listen to a heartbeat," and her "Touch Poem for Group of People," where it says, "touch each other." I wanted to put these inspirations into one theme, to create connections through touch, which we rarely do in today's technology-based society. Instead of getting closer to each other, we grow more distant from each other, both physically and emotionally.
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