The Habitorium (est. 2013) is a platform for my research into habits. I devise situations to engage participants, interviewing strangers about their habitual behavior. Performances have happened at ethnic festivals, in coffee houses, bookstores, and galleries. I conducted a performance during a wedding reception, too. Read and see more about The Habitorium.
Texts From the Fringe
Phoenix Fringe Festival (2010)
This performance relied on the participation of strangers attending the Phoenix Fringe Festival. I invited festival audience members via text, to become actors and instigators in theater lobbies across town.
2 for 1 Phoenix AZ and Johnstown PA (2006-2007) What started as a simple desire to loose 50 pounds in time for my 25th High School reunion developed into a year-long investigation into the meaning of weight, the nature of loss and the inevitability of emergence. One year prior to the reunion, I began sending postcards to people from my graduating class and a small network of artists and friends. The postcards showed images from snapshots of me taken over the years. On the back, I wrote short stories from my life that aimed to complicate the careful conversations I expected to have over drinks at the reunion.
Spin YMCA, University of Arizona, and Dinnerware Contemporary Art Gallery, Tucson AZ (2007) This performance was a series of lectures presented while teaching a spin class. The profile of the ride was choreographed to the rhythm of songs from 1982. I asked audience members to come dressed for a bike ride. There was an opportunity for conversation following each performance.
Fin UnPlugged Feminist Film and Performance Festival, Tucson (2007) This performance invited participants to offer stories inspired by images drawn from my personal archive. I wrote the stories onto hand-crafted postcards and instructed participants to drop the cards in the USPS mailbox, located around the corner from the performance space.
Home is Where the Gob Is…NY, Berkeley, Phoenix (1996-2007)
This performance and video project explores the subtleties of comfort food in relation to body image and geography. A Gob is a chocolate snack cake with crème filling that is wrapped in cellophane with a sailor printed on the front. Gobs are made exclusively in my hometown at Dutch Maid Bakery. I’ve been eating Gobs all my life and, recently, I’ve been asking other people, friends and strangers alike, to indulge my nostalgia and eat a Gob while I video tape them doing it. As they eat, we talk about the cake’s name, its flavor, the pleasures of hometown tastes and the shelf life of snack foods. Some participants reflected on childhood experiences while others revealed extensive details about their eating habits and health.
Six of One Grant Street Studios, Phoenix, (2004) This performance was in response to images from Abu Ghraib prison, it was intended to engage a broad audience in an intimate exchange about violence and the images it generates. Participants pose for a photograph with a person who is being bitten by a dog.
Blinded by Toner The Space, Long Island City NY (2000) This collaborative, scripted performance asked questions about the occupational hazards of temping in New York’s financial district.
What R U Looking@? (1999-2000) These performances were staged in front of live web cameras throughout New York City.
Always a Bride’s Maid Phoenix AZ and Telluride CO (1997) I collected bride’s maids dresses from strangers and friends. I took the dresses to Colorado where I installed them in the landscape.
No. 5 Phoenix Art Detour (1996) During this 2-day performance I invited strangers to feed me by hand. We talked about diet, mutual aid and the costs of over-eating.