Since 2016 I have collaborated with Asheville, North Carolina-based, international interdisciplinary artist and founding director of Cilla Vee Life Arts and The Center for Connection + Collaboration, Cilla Vee (aka Claire Elizabeth Barratt), on various creative projects, including the web-based Re-Cultivating Compassion project. Recently, we have formed The Readymade Humans, instigators of group participatory performance data collecting happenings to explore and further cultivate compassion and awareness through actions and objects. Our first piece, the installation-performance ‘How Long is a String?’, was created at THANGsgiving 2022: Mashed-Potato Gravy-Reservoir Edition, ‘Paul Kafka-Gibbons’s semi-annual “Thangs” are day-long celebrations that bring together a wild array of artistic expressions [The Boston Globe]’at the Somerville Armory. Our second piece, OBSERVATIONS of the INFRA-ORDINARY, premiered at goodTHANGpassing 2023: Afikomen in Plain Sight Edition on April 7, 2023.
My collaborations with Cilla Vee provide another means of research and a form of sustenance that feeds my studio-based painting practice. I take the documentation of the actions (and reactions) of the performers (myself included) to the objects and ideas we are exploring together back to my studio, where I dissect them, reflecting on the experience and analyzing what I have collected in words and eventually paintings.
The following blog entry is my reflection and analysis of that day, accompanied by photos of the performance, the collected data —handwritten notes of the participant-performers of their observations—and the sketch of their words and colors, which ended the first phase of this piece at wireTHANG 2023: Peeps Edition , an evening event at Greg Kowalski's Wire Factory, in Lowell, MA.
"OBSERVATIONS of the INFRA-ORDINARY" is inspired by the following ideas. First, Marcel Duchamp's concept of the Infra-thin —the smallest interval of the slightest distance— was artfully described by Duchamp as "fire without smoke", "the warmth of a seat which has just been left", "velvet trousers their whistling sound is an infra-thin separation signaled"; the infra-thin is "The possible, implying the becoming —the passage from one to the other takes place in the infra-thin." Second, the extended essay An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris (1974) by Georges Perec and its expression of his concept of the Infra-Ordinary —what happens when nothing happens. This, Perec's written record of his three days of observing, illustrates how much happens when nothing happens. Third, the creative, individual and collaborative explorations of 'compassion' by The Readymade Humans —Cilla Vee and Robyn Thomas— for example, in their online project Re-cultivating Compassion.
Compassion is our inherent ability to 'feel with' others, which can be cultivated and strengthened through observation and exchange exercises with our fellow beings. These explorations result in an object, be it 'material' —a sketch, a drawing, a sculpture or installation— or 'immaterial' —a performance, a poem, a projection, music, video, sound or digital artwork— to be carried forth as vestiges of the compassion found in them. In this piece, created for a goodTHANGpassing —an extraordinary and infra-ordinary experience of the infra-thin— the observations of the participants become the objects from which other objects, and our understanding of compassion, may grow.
The premier performance of "OBSERVATIONS of the INFRA-ORDINARY" transpired in four parts. Parts I- II consisted of the exercises' instructions, delivered to the participants by a recording from Cilla Vee.
They followed them by collecting observations and leaving these as notes with Robyn at the end of Part II. Part III was the initial analysis by Robyn of the observation notes and consisted of sketching out the words and phrases of the participants onto a larger sheet of paper and augmented with watercolor during the remaining 1.5 - 2 hours of a goodTHANGpassing. Afterwards, while people packed up and cleaned up, the sketch was informally presented in front of the stage, then rolled up and taken by Robyn to the evening edition of a goodTHANGpassing, a wireTHANG, held that evening in Lowell, MA. Before the evening performances began, the sketch was informally presented by Robyn and Paul Kafka-Gibbons to the evening THANG attendees. That group mainly consisted of people who were not at the Somerville Armory and, therefore, were unfamiliar with the project performance, its participants, or the environment in the Somerville Armory earlier that day. The sketch became a diagrammatic bridge between the two events. Together, informal presentations of the sketch at the end of a goodTHANGpassing and the beginning of wireTHANG were Part IV.
The Readymade Humans have been invited back to the THANGsgiving 2023 edition to present what was revealed on April 7 and where this project led us between then and November 24, 2023. There might be a Part V (and VI, or more?).
The Numbers
In all, ten people participated as listeners and seers. Additionally, two other people declined to participate. Still, they remained seated with the group, observing without the sensory blocking devices or sharing their observations.
During this 20-25 minute performance, there were approximately five other people in the space, coming and going, packing up from earlier performances, and two dancers warming up in the upper-level space. Robyn, as the presenter, and Enno and Lukas Fritsch, who documented and assisted in setting up and distributing the sensory blocking devices, were also participating. Approximately 20 people were at least partially engaged in this performance in the main space of the Somerville Armory.
Meanwhile, the cafe on the ground floor near the Armory's main entrance was open. Customers and others with business elsewhere in the Armory possibly encountered the participants in the foyer and outside the Armory along Highland Avenue. Despite it being a day off school and at least three holidays, significant traffic was on the sidewalk and roadway. An unknown number of other people also encountered this performance, indirectly or passively, and participated in it as part of the observations of its participants. Later that evening, at a wireTHANG, another dozen people were present during the informal presentation of the sketch, bringing the total number of known persons engaged with this performance to 32, plus the others who remain uncountable.
The Uncertainties of Parts III and IV
Beyond envisioning a long piece of paper marked with a black Sharpie marker, I was uncertain what would result during the third part of this performance. I packed a box of drawing tools, tape, a brush, and children's watercolor paints. Cilla Vee's idea to co-join the two parts of this THANG by way of this piece offered exciting possibilities, including offering the musicians present the use of the recording. However, I was unsure if I could attend, so I saved the .wav file to a thumb drive I gave Paul Kafka-Gibbons. He extended the offer to re-do the piece in Lowell, but after the long day, I was tired. In the end, I attended the first hour and a half, presented the sketch and explained the performance project.
Other Observations and Recollections
One participant was hearing impaired and chose to be the 'seer' by simply turning off their hearing aids.
The recording of Cilla Vee worked very well. At first, a few participants thought she might be participating via a video call —a possibility we had considered in addition to a video call.
The only 'technical glitch' was the ballpoint pens, which despite being from a newly opened packet, did not write! Note to ensure writing devices are in working order for future performances.
The locations chosen by the pairs varied. One pair remained in the seats they were in at the performances' beginning, another pair went outside to the front of the building, one pair stood just inside the door to the main space, one pair located themselves on the stage, and the fifth pair took the opportunity to visit the WC —not a location I had considered beforehand.
What’s next?
What became clear to me in the moment of the performance, as the participants collected, shared, and recorded their observations on the notepads, was that they were creating what would become 'readymades' available for future use. And I realized that during Part III, I could create a sketch, a schematic diagram of what was collected to serve as a bridge to the evening event and future work —paintings, poems, another performance— what exactly remains to be seen. Repeating this performance in another location with other participants would add to the list of readymade observations and allow for a deeper analysis of the differences and commonalities across the participant groups, environments and situations. This deeper analysis could provide a way to describe the relationship between the infra-thin, the infra-ordinary, and compassion as it is cultivated and strengthened through observation and exchange exercises resulting in creating objects and actions and more 'Readymade Humans'.
Transcription of Observation Notes —Capitalization, spelling and any punctuation are as they appear in the note.
Viewer
Light throug Window
Jumping on Stage
Cymbal Struck
Wide Open Space
Participants
Hearer
motor drones
fan motors for HVAC
refrigerator motor
moving air
muffled conversation
people moving around
door open
clinks & bangs (on reverse, not shown)
black tile
gray particle separation
white
ceramic toilets w/no backing
ceramic washbasins
(white)
3 urinals with
blue heartshaped
pads in drain
with holes
Jill standing and
listening
Footsteps
Wheels
Paper
Leaves
radio
car horn
All as they
came to perception
are after the
other to the ear.
Fan
Karen talking
peeing
flushing
washing
paper towel
bell sound from
outside room
blind person
changing position
architecture
purple ceiling
duct work
people sitting
black carpet
lint
detris
video screen
overhead lights
door frames
hum of Rur
creaking of Floor
Running
Something Dragged
Pushed
phone
talking
cowbell
vibration
smell of carpet
two people sitting
together without blindfold
crowd disperse
people recording us
as if we were entertainment
Voices
Footsteps
FAR-OFF CONVERSATIONS
REFRIGERATION
CREAKY STAIRS
thick walls
tilted (sloped)
window sills
all empty except untilted
sill which collected
What were trees before?
protection
danger
suseptibility
Analysis of the Notes
Only one word appears exactly the same more than once, ‘Footsteps’, and it only appears twice.
Other words appear more than once in slightly different forms or context. These are as follows:
motor/motors (3)
white (2)
conversation/conversations (2)
ceramic (2)
window (2)
people (3)
door (2)
paper (2)
moving (2)
black (2)
talking (2)
sitting (2)
open (2).
Only one number is written as its zifer, ‘3’.
Various words wear used to describe the humans taking part in this performance
participants
person
people
crowd
words to describe their role in the performance
viewer
hearer
blind person
and the proper name of two of the participants
Jill
Karen.
Colors appear, mostly as neutrals —black (2), white (2) and gray—, but also a blue and a purple.
Gerunds were used frequently
moving
standing
listening
talking
peeing
flushing
washing
changing
sitting
creaking
running
recording
jumping.
There are words denoting perception, including perception,
smell
sound
vibration
hum
clinks & bangs.
And words that describe a characteristic
thick
tilted
untilted
(sloped)
heartshaped
creaking
creaky
as if we were entertainment.
or what is found in the ‘space’ —described as ‘wide open’— the ‘architecture’
window
stage
ceiling
duct work
overhead lights
door frames
floor (‘creaky’ and ‘creaking’)
stairs
walls
and window sills.
Of course, there were numerous nouns.
Amongst which were
wheels
ear [the only actual body part mentioned]
radio
refrigerator
HVAC
leaves
car horn
detris [sic.]
phone
cowbell
carpet
cymbal
bell
tile
toilets
urinal
washbasin
drain
pads
holes
fan
papertowel
lint
blindfold
suseptibility
protection
perception
position
refrigeration
separation
conversations
voices.
‘Something’ was ‘dragged’ or ‘pushed’
throug(h)
empty
outside
overhead
together
without
and
far-off.
The ‘carpet’ ‘smell’ed and the ‘crowd disperse’d.
But only one question:
What were trees before?
