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Collaboration and The Performance Space: working in the granite lady

granite lady, Collaboration and The Performance Space

images go through a variety of mediations
in the course of rehearsal
as my perception collides
with that of collaborators some in particular
catch my imagination
confound and complicate my perception
of the overall work I can shape an individual image
fashion the field in which that image is set at play
manipulate the containing image of space
(the performance space)
to a limited degree
as well as
the relationship of the individual elements
within the performed spacebut with site specific work
even with this general sense of control
a provocative degree of accidents occur
randomness
surpriseconstructed images
interrelationships
the preconceived structure of the field of play
undergoes unexpected reconfigurations
magical transformationsadd to this
the interactions of actors and a text
these unexpected mediations
make the rehearsal process a volatile experience
a place where predetermined notions
collide with the unforeseen
sometimes unwelcome
transformations

yet i find
these collisions
produce some of the most
significant and meaningful mediations
opening doors to potentialities
unimagined prior

my private or self-contained vision
when made public
through conversation with collaborators
soemtimes through photographs
taken during the communal rehearsal process
shared and displayed either overtly or indirectly
this vision of mine
opens itself up
sometimes willingly
sometimes unwillingly
to an extensive series of challenges
complicated negotiations
internal and external
as it encounters both the imagination
and the bodily presence of collaborating visions

my subjective vision
in this process
constantly evolves
as the virtual performance of my imagination
is re-shaped by others material work
enveloped by the idiosyncrasies of environment
framed an unframed by a sites nature
all of which
produce a new virtuality that
in turn
is re-shaped in the day by day process
of an evolving aesthetic project

this is the inevitable dynamic
between plan and implementation
mental image and physical embodiment
execution of a determined scheme and the surprise
accommodation of the accidental

this is a relationship
between a perceived failure and a recuperation with change

these challenges and subsequent revisions in plan
occur even in aesthetic projects
like painting
that involve only a single person

in collective/collaborative work
these mediations of an “original” vision or imaginative plan
increase in both number and intensity
this process may be perceived as one
complicated by the relationship between conscious motive
and the operation of a collective unconscious
where
the sudden discovery of a structure
a paradigm
a cluster of images in a particular relationship
appear to be the display of an organizational scheme
that the collaborative process of work
brings to the surface

these surprise revelations
of unplanned relationships occur all the time
how one interprets them
depends upon your conception of the imagination

the performance space as a form of consciousness
be it San Francisco’s Old Mint
the Emeryville mudflats
becomes a manifestation
a 3d model of consciousness
stimulating a consistent conceptual play
that prevents the work
from being merely an imitation of behavior

it isn’t particularly useful to tell an actor
that he or she is
“performing a specific,
albeit complex,
image within a larger image of consciousness”
it is useful,
to view the presence of a human figure
not as a discrete image
but as a mediation–
as an image that a consciousness has already processed
not as the raw material of sense perception

I recognize
I have not control
nor no idea how a spectator will process that image
but the degree to which I can shape that image
as a processed or mediated image
this emphases
provides a unique stimulus for the spectator

In this way of working
the performance
unfolding in space
but most importantly AS space
operates much like a vision or dream
capturing consciousness
holding it within its borders
constituting itself as images
that shape the spectator’s consciousness
for the moment of performance

each spectator negotiates
his or her own relationship to that vision
but, if I consider that the work provides
a series of visual and acoustic images
stimulating the individual spectator
the process is rather
self-consciously phenomenlogical

Collaboration and The Performance Space:
working in the granite lady

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