For my performance piece, I will be taking the idea of the body and the spaces it inhabits quite literally. As a fat woman, there are many spaces that I am figuratively and/or physically unable to fit into, and I am interested in exploring this separation between body and surroundings further.
I will have the classroom set up in a theatre style, where I will perform at the front of the room (in front of the projection screen) and the audience will sit facing me. I have chosen the theatre-like set because while fatness can make a person invisible, it can also result in hyper-visibility and fat people are often on display.
The projection screen will be up, and in its place there will be another barrier on which something can be projected. I am considering using plastic, cardboard, plywood, or fabric. Plywood would be ideal, but it will depend on money and my ability to work with these materials. On this “board” I will cut out different shapes and project images or video on it. These images will be of places where I do not “fit,” and this is where the performance will come in. In a three to five minute performance, I will unsuccessfully try to get through the shapes I’ve cut out, in an attempt to occupy these spaces.
I will require plastic (or a similar material), a knife, the projector already in the classroom, and my computer. Set-up will take about ten minutes, and I will set up prior to the class. I will be dressed in my normal attire, but perhaps with a more extreme focus on femininity.
Why are you creating these spaces where you do not fit using board and projection instead of bringing us to the places where you do not fit? Is there an intention of staging the space? Is there a purpose to putting the body onto a stage/screen beyond what you describe as your reasoning behind having a theater style performance? Will the cutouts accentuate how your body deviates from the norm instead of just mimicking a public space?
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing this performance.