hiding

http://www.thecoast.ca/1FreeClassListbody.lasso?-token.fcparcat=16139.112113&-token.fcchildcat=16143.112113

The body of work I am currently developing deals with the visible/invisible as a mode of revealing/concealing the space between what is ‘me’, and what is ‘I’. I am socially awkward, defensive, obstructed. I try to let other people get to know me, but there are boundaries, some that I can predict, and others that I just stumble upon as they suddenly rear up, and I withdraw, dismayed. What is ‘me’ is private: concealed, recollected as past memories and projected into the future. I invest in and believe that I am the owner of what I consider to be ‘me’. Conversely, what is ‘I’, is public: I exist in public through and for others in their presence and in the space and time of the interaction. This project will be a thematic exploration of safety and security using my public body and urban architecture to create a performance of absence.

I am proposing a public performance in which I will hide. I will set out the square city block and time-frame in a newspaper listing describing where and when I will be hidden in the city, in simple, concise language. I will then hide myself within this outlined space/time block, remaining outside, crouching behind garbage cans, squeezing into corners or ducking behind hedges. Once I find a hiding spot I will remain in that position until the allotted time has elapsed, at which point I will leave. I will be hiding on public property, the spectators/audience are invited to seek me. If they choose to look for me, they may choose to stop and watch me hide or to mark my location and action with a glance and continue on to other attractions.

I am choosing to physically conceal myself in public city space as a manifestation of what I feel like when I am in public. Public space is supposedly common space, any body is expected to be able to cross through it, no-body is allowed to occupy or own it. I protect my ‘self’ in public, to keep my ‘me’ private. I do not want to linger in public. I hurry home with my eyes downcast. By performing absence through hiding, I am constructing a reversal of my everyday experience of public space as performed, as well as my experience of being absent to myself when I am performing (being in public). By hiding I will be covertly attempting to become present in public, to reveal my private and personal self by publicly concealing my public body.

For those people who choose to ‘seek’ me, the experience of the public space of the city will be altered. Looking for me, without any features for identifying me, anyone and anything could be concealing the artist – architecture determinedly obstructs the ability to survey space, the audience member becomes aware of the hunting and seeking that occurs in any performance – where is the art/ist? In this piece I am drawing a parallel between my private ‘me’, and the phenomenon of private property. By hiding my body in public I am refusing to make public any part of my visible self, refusing to grant anyone access to my ‘I’. I am inserting my private self into public space by marking the absence of my ‘I’. The newspaper listing will project a public presence to create my public absence. Whether or not the spectators actively seek out my hiding spot, my presence is marked by a public announcement: a feeble, preliminary form of advertising to alert the readers of where I will (not) be.