Progress of the Body, 1997
7 performers, 5 audio tracks, 5 slide projections, 1 light projection
Sediment, curated by Terril-Lee W. Calder-Fujii, Jenny Keith, Derek Mohammed
Trinity Bellwoods Park, Toronto
7A*11D Performance Art Festival
August 7-11, 1997, 9:00 pm
The performance took place in the “bowl” of Trinity Bellwoods Park. A light projection of a heart and lungs was projected on the hillside. At the north end, images of the 5 Senses were projected on picnic tables covered with white cloth, 5 dancers performed under trees, and a mother and child filled and laid out 100 bowls of water. The latter action determined the duration of the performance. Five audio recordings were secreted in bushes along the paths overlooking the performance area, marked with silk flags printed with the 5 Senses images. The audience walked the park paths and among the performers, images and audio recordings.
Excerpts from audio:
I
And we, seeking purpose
desire some order to our world.
The rising and falling of the sun are not enough….
II
My breath presses against my body’s inside
falling like lightning then reaching
electric….
III
From limitless space a mind is drawn inside my body.
Deep, deep
a cell divides and multiplies….
IV
Abandoned!
Why must I abandon my body?
Why has my body abandoned me?….
V
May you be free of suffering.
May you cease weeping.
May sorrow leave you….
excerpt from the Artist Statement
The imagery I use is based in an interest in cultural conceptions of the processes and organs of consciousness; specifically notions of the relationship between the physical body and the immaterial (spirit, emotion). At present, this image base includes the 5 sense organs, the heart and lungs, and the brain….
Credits
Performers:
Bee Palomino (aka Barbara Baltus), Nell Chitty, Elizabeth Chitty, Anne-Marie Hood, Helen Jones, Vanessa Lambeck and Susan Macpherson
Lighting realized by Chris Clifford
Audio Recording by Paul Hodge
Note
This is the final work in a cycle of performances in which the audience walked trails and paths in conservation areas and parks and which I called “landscape-based”. The works shared the body organ images. The cycle is Hortus Imaginum (1992), Paysage et nos coeurs (1994), Découvrant le coeur (1994), Nature of the Body (1996) and Progress of the Body (1997). I returned to walking performances much later.
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