Endurance performance: Illusion

For 3 hours, 8-11am, I designated my time soley to the task of constructing a wall out of the materials in Canakadea River. I had no idea how how tall this building would end up being and it's exact aesthetics. I picked rocks up of all varying sizes, including one that was too large and ended up causing me an injury during the performance. The process was extensive, repetitive, and physically exhausting.
My intentions was the solidify myself into the illusion of being alone; creating an environment untouched by any human influence. Through the creation of a stone wall, an organic separation was being created between the Alfred University institution and myself in the river. As I carried up rocks, I placed human made items (rappers, wire, terracotta bricks) in front of the wall to keep it out of the illusion I was creating and maintaining.
The difficulties in this endurance performance were hydration, extensive physical exhaustion, and injuries from falling rocks being transported to higher levels. At 9:30am, I had obtained a rock that was quite large and dense. Upon placing it on higher elevations as I climbed up the tree, it fell ontop of me and my fingers were cut quite deep around the nail and down the finger. I continued, compromised by the limited use of my left hand, and had to switch to smaller rocks and started using wood found in the creek to use on the wall. Following the endurance performance at 11am I left and sought medical attention for the injuries.

Analysis

Upon exiting the stair case on the third floor of harder hall lay a female surrounded by pieces of paper with three bricks on top of her with a piece of paper attached with two rubber-bands. Each piece of paper read of someone's deepest secrets. Most of the papers appeared to have the same hand writing, which at first made me understand this piece to be the performer's personal experiences and secrets. Upon further investigation, I observed other fashions of hand writing. The girl, though everyone surrounded her and invaded this space, she lay calmly with her eyes closed and minimal movement.
I began to become consumed with the thoughts of these people. Who put these bricks on her? Why would someone apply this weight to her body with their secrets while others carefully placed them around her? I began to realize that there was no point wondering whom these thoughts belonged to but rather the repetative aspect of these people's situations. These people have walked these hallways where I stood and I would never have known they carried these lives. Her body began to transform in my eyes from a personal history to a center of Alfred documentation that opened my eyes to the pain and weight we all carry; a history book measured without labels, unorganized thoughts that weighed on her as if she were to preserve and house them from the world.
My involvement with this piece remained distant. I felt comfortable and curious of others thoughts but felt blocked from sharing my own; what if people saw what I had to write? Do I really feel okay about adding weight to her body knowing that she has to endure this for three hours? I couldn't bring myself to reveal my own true secrets, but I felt connected to her through some of what others had written that were also a part of my life. This piece might have been originally intended to be a drop of of thoughts for those whom sought a temporary relief from their lives, but for me, instead of unloading, I adopted the understanding that I'm not alone.

My Three Hour Endurance Performance Proposal

I, Maya Burrows, will be constructing a stone wall by canakadia river by Mclain. I will repetitively transporting rocks from the river bed and carrying them to the elevated portion of the river side. I will not talk to anyone focus solely on constructing a stone wall without leaving the river area. I will not go to the bathroom, drink and/or eat. Through this endurance performance I hope to represent the creation of an organic blockage to preserve my personal illusion of being alone and escaping Alfred University and it's pressure.

Sounds of Alfred: Territory

Organization of Disruption

Maya and I constructed a 5 by 3 foot wooden box that would make the black and white checker board pattern on the front move in and out of the box. We projected an image onto the box of a person in a deep but almost restless state of sleep. The image consists solely of a female's face; frantically moving her eyes back in forth as if she was dreaming. The gears would pushed the gears in and out of the box disrupting the image.

Even though the motor wasn't image working and couldn't distort the image how it was intended to, the film was still moving creating it's own distortion. The idea behind this motorized automata was the fact that we are thinking and imagining every minute of our day, but the cycle is always being disrupted.

The machine, though was unable to function to its original intention, found a new meaning to its creators and viewers. The motor spun at a consistent rate, the room filled with it's constant sound of struggle and friction. The image in the from moved and almost seemed brought to life by the motor though there was no real connection between them. The dowel continuously splintered as the motor struggled to spin it. This shows not only the illusion and abstraction of how a motor can interact with your piece (is it actually the one responsible for the movement), but also the fact that maybe the beauty is placed on the motors failure to bring results and in this case, distorting the image on the frontal portion of our autonoma.

Sonic Postcard Remix

Sonic Postcard Remix from Kirsty Reeves on Vimeo.

Organization of Distortion

Maya and I constructed a 5 foot wooden box that would make the black and white checker board pattern on the front move in and out of the box. We projected an image onto the box of a person in a conscious state of sleep. The image consists of just a face frantically moving her eyes back in forth as if she was dreaming. The gears would pushed the gears in and out of the box disrupting the image.

Even though the motor wasn't image working and couldn't distort the image how it was intended to, the film was still moving creating it's own distortion. The idea behind this motorized automata was the fact that we are thinking and imagining every minute of our day, but the cycle is always being disrupted.

Snack Dispenser Autonoma

This Cardboard Autonoma is designed to dispense a snack food of your choice (works best with pretzels or cereal or even candy). You simply place the food in the opening at the top of the box and then wind the wheel to the right. The opening that was blocked before turning the wheel is now open and your snack can now pour out into your hand or a bowl.

When asked to document 24 hours of my personal life, my mind went blank. What do I do that could be significant enough to hold a time slot or measurement? I couldn't conjure an action or a significant influence I had on my environment, so I documented my environment.
I feel a loss of time on a regular basis; I'm consumed with thoughts and observations of my ever so busy surroundings.







I designed an assignment sheet for the public of Alfred stating :

"Time can be defined by an individual based on a sequence or precess. I am asking for individuals of Alfred to document their day with the minimal of the following information -

• Where are you located right now?
• What time is it?
• Wat are some thoughts that have consumed your week?
•What thoughts have consumed your day?
•What are you thinking in this exact moment?

Document this information on a an object, piece of paper, a wrapper, or even a napkin (basically if you can document these questions on it, then you may use it). Options beyond this include providing personal objects found in your wallet, pockets, etc.

As a final note I do not want to know your name. I just want evidence or rather a bookmark of where you are in this moment."

I used the information gathered from over 10 people to contrast how I saw my day. I could not document moments even when I tried during the day. A lot was on my mind and it felt as thought these thoughts were a swarm of bees, frustrated in their attempt to find order. So, I documented in one fell swoop my thoughts through words and depictions. I wrote over the words repetitively when ever a new thought would disrupt the previous one's track. After concluding the documentation of chaotic thoughts, I burnt parts of the paper at midnight, because thought most of these thoughts would consume my days to follow, I was working away at the edges to clear some room for the moments to come.