Interactions & Play

The Linger Longer Toast

The Linger Longer Toast was developed for Sally Szwed’s 5 Pairings event at the Sunview Luncheonette. The toast is a simple social choreography that involves people to pair up briefly, make eye contact, and drink to one another. Each participant received a glass of red wine (flavor-paired to match the language of the toast) and a custom-stamped, custom-scented cocktail napkin with the basic choreographic instructions. The toast was read aloud by the artist, timed as a music to accompany the “dance.”

Read Karen Kedmey’s review of The Linger Longer Toast on Artsy.

The script for the toast is available upon request.

Experiments in Joy

This score was commissioned by Gabrielle Civil for the project Experiments in Joy at Antioch College in 2014. The score uses standard scientific laboratory notebook format and language (as well as the language around physical strength development like the 30-day plank challenge) to create a shared performance between two participants. No facilitators are required to perform the score.

This score may be downloaded and re-performed for free. Report-back can be shared between the participants, and/or emailed directly to the artist with the subject line “Experiments in Joy.”

The score has also appeared in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African DiasporaVolume 41.1 and 41.2. 

Happy Birthday, Ben! (For Ben Patterson)

Happy Birthday, Ben! (For Ben Patterson) comprises two scores commissioned on the occasion of Ben Patterson’s 80th birthday.

The first score, for humans and disposable cameras, was performed by Ben Patterson (and guests) in Berlin on March 11th, 2014. Evidence of the performance was displayed in Berlin’s Schau Fenster gallery.

The second score is intended for public use in celebration of Ben, and also appears in the SNEAK REVIEW volume printed for Ben’s birthday. This score may be downloaded and re-performed freely.

Party Box

Party Box was part of a series of experiments on performance without the body of the performer. The work was created for the CROSSED BOUNDARIES homage to Rirkrit Tiravanija exhibit at Glasshouse, curated by Lital Dotan and Eyal Perry. The box played with Tiravanija’s concept of art as sociability, weighing the object of the package both as an invitation, and as a clearly defined game. Putting “rules” in place allowed for participants to feel a sense of safety in their interactions, which in turn provided the freedom for a range of behaviors that made the party a success.

The complete Party Box kit included snacks, a mix CD of the top 10 songs in Germany for the week of November 8th – 15th, 2012, $20 (US) for purchasing beer; Schnickschnack (a German translation of the American game Balderdash, created by the artist), two Kodak disposable cameras for documenting the action, instructions on how to throw a party compiled through Google search and sent twice through Google Translate (English to German and back to English), balloons, noisemakers and clean-up supplies.

The process of creating Party Box was tracked on the blog herehere, and here.