WSU Student: "At first I was like, oh my god. And then I was like, Oh My God!"

Aside from falling down in front of the CUB, the public performance was a success! I definitely got the attention of a number of students on The Mall last Thursday. Because of the way the headpiece is designed, my visibility while inside the costume is pretty low. I knew it would be difficult to gauge peoples reactions from my position, so I hired on some help for the performance. My friend Zoe, who was taking pictures and talking to people nearby, filled me in on some of the common reactions that the performance got.

Many people came outside of the CUB to get a better look, but most of them didn't get to close. Many people were on there phones telling others about the weirdo walking around on campus. One of the people that were photographing me on my stilts must have been from The Daily Evergreen, because I ended up not only on the first page as a little image by the title, but also the main image on page 5 of Thursdays paper (link).

Back to the falling down part: Ow! At first I didn't think I'd hurt myself, but a few hours later I had to run down to Health and Wellness to be sure. I basically spent Halloween weekend in my bed on ice-packs. I don't regret doing the performance, though. The rabbit outfit is something I've worked on for awhile. This was my only public performance, and even though I totally fell down in front of people, I still had a good time.

Here are some of the pics that Zoe took for me:

 

In this one you can see the tape recorder that I was carrying around. The soundtrack was of children laughing.

 

This is my friend, Kate. She spotted me from inside the CUB. I think she recognized me because of the stilts, but I hadn't told her I was going to be doing this project. She said that she was listening to the talk being given by police officers about the dangers of drinking and college students, but the talk was totally interrupted by a giant rabbit walking around outside.

The Performance

Scheduling didn't quite work out the way I planned. I had hoped to do the performance outside of the grand opening of Walmart but the weather and scheduling with my friend (the photographer) prevented me from doing so (and possibly also prevented me from the embarrassment of being kicked out of Walmart.. again.. sigh..).

But the show must go on! Last minute changes to the original plan are as follows: Today I'll be arriving at WSU around noon to suit up. I'll be out walking around and spooking people at Holland Terrell Mall sometime during the 12 o'clock hour.

Zoe will follow me around and will be taking pictures of people's reactions. Possibly some video footage as well?

Performance Project - 9ft Evil Rabbit Wizard

Here's the part where I describe the outline for my project. Despite my previous descriptions and exploration of installation pieces, I've decided to put together a simple performance act. The 9ft Rabbit Wizard idea has been a project that I've slowly been working on for quite awhile. The original purpose of the costume was for a Halloween party. For the purposes of this class, I'll describe the details of the costume, images of the Rabbit Wizard in public places, and a summary of the reactions that I get from people.



Here's a picture of the stilts that I made. It's a pretty standard design for homemade stilts. Each pole is about 60" tall. Attached to each pole is a foot support with easy slip on shoes attached. Above each foot support is the leg restraint that keeps my leg and foot firmly connected to the stilt.

 

Here's a close-up of the foot support. When I walk in the stilts, these supports hold really firm. Definitely a better design than the first pair! 

A close-up of the leg restraints. The white/black foam pad keeps my legs from sliding around and keep my legs comfortable when I'm strapped in. The black plastic strap was recycled from old snowboard bindings.

Here are most of the rags and articles of clothing that I'll be wearing to make up the Rabbit Wizards robe.

And finally, the Rabbit Wizard mask.       Spooky? I think so..

Post 2

For this post, I'm just going to share some links to sites that I think will be helpful for understanding installation projects.

Art by Thomas Doyle - This is the artists main web site. I really like the images within the distillation series, especially"Displaced Persons", "In the Bone", and "Acceptable Losses". The works found in the Reclamation series include containers other than the usual "snow-globe" format that seems typical to most of the artists work. Some of the containers used to house some of these pieces are an old first-aid kit, specimen jars, and cabinets. In the artists resume/statement, Thomas Doyle explains that his pieces are, among other things, a study of memory and perception. He also explains that the glass that contains his pieces seem to lock the images within into a specific moment in time. What is the artist trying to convey by housing his work in a first-aid box? How does the intense blue lighting in "Stigmatized Property" effect the mood of the piece - the mood of the viewer?

H.R. Giger - Museum Bar - This is the artist website for the museum bar in Chateau St. Germain, Switzerland. This permanent installation is both a museum of three-dimensional art pieces created by the artist. The exhibit not only functions as a museum, but is also a full bar. I think the idea must have formed after the artist was commissioned to design some props for the film "Dune". Many of the Harkonnen set design elements can be found in this bar. The chairs are an obvious example. The ribcage-like ceiling and mono-chromatic color scheme in the museum/bar really set an atmosphere very much like an H.R. Giger painting.

Bummer! - I was hoping to find a link to some video footage of performance art done by Alex Grey.  Alex Grey is mostly known as a hyper-realistic painter whose primary focus is on spirituality. I remember reading about Grey's early works during his late teens and early 20s. It seems like before the artist was recognized as an established painter, most of his work was done infront of small crowds of people on street sidewalks. Much of the performance art that Grey did during this time was horribly offensive to people. Grey would often incorporate corpses in his "on-stage" performance acts. One that I can remember involved a nude corpse of a woman, suspended by a rope tied around her ankle, which was balanced by Alex Grey himself suspended by the ankle as a counter balance on a large scale. The entire piece was centered in front of a large crudely drawn crucifix. I think one of the main goals that grey had was to shock his viewers to a certain point just to get their attention, but also to convey the importance of his message.

Post 1

Today I created a blog. Today I'll work on working with some of the template adjustments to make my page look a little better. I've just set up some initial changes to the layout and settings of this blog, and now I'll go on to explore what other changes I might be able to make using a Cascade Style Sheet.

I've taken some time already to explore some installation works by two artists that I'm familiar with. H.R. Giger is a famous horror/surrealist painter. He has done a ton of work using various media such as oil, acrylic, wood, steel, and many others to create bizarre and frightening scenes. Giger is the creator and designer of two "Giger Bars" and the H.R. Giger Museum. I'll be taking a closer look at the Giger Bars' architecture and furnishings a little later in this blog.

Another installation artist I have begun to research is Thomas Doyle. Doyle creates miniature models of 1:43 scale suburban scenes. These scenes are typically presented within a snowglobe-like container, and often depict a standard american home with miniature people. Thomas Doyle's artist statement (found here on his main web page) explains that his work pursues the idea of memory. The artist explains that his work, because of its extremely reduced size "evoke feelings of omnipotence" in the viewer. This is an interesting start at looking at the power that immersive installation work has over the viewer.