"Work" Documentation

Alt Media Project #2 A performance/ installation piece by Tony Marshall Through the use of contradictions, my work explores the transition from the everyday to the fantastic. I use elements of attraction with an opposing risk to create both a longing to join, and a tension against doing so. The operatic quality of this piece acts as a direct contraction to the seemingly mundane act of simply drawing. Within this piece, I am exploring the act of ripping the fantastic musing out of its original imaginary realm, and crudely forcing it into our current circumstances, so as to offer a new perspective to an act that has become nothing more than routine. Participants are invited up to draw on a piece of paper that is in front of me, joining in the interaction, although there is a symbiotic relationship between the paper and myself, unbeknownst to the viewer. I, as an imaginary creature, am jealous of the reality they are comprised of. Through my limited interactions, I work to erase every mention of them, so I won't be haunted by the realization that I, the character, am not real. I perform according to the following rules of engagement: 1) Only if they sit in the chair can I recognize that they exist... otherwise they are outside of my reality. 2) I may not speak. I may only breath and use very slight grunts and guttural noises to communicate. 3) While they are drawing I cannot touch them or the paper. 4) When they leave the seat, I must erase the paper, striving to make it clean. 5) Always be drawing or writing, pausing only for light food breaks. 6) I may only erase pencil... other media that ends up on the paper cannot be removed. This documentation includes excerpts from the journal I kept during the 9 hour performance."Work