we've received orders not to move

Three people were kneeling in a row with an audio box in front of them. The people wore vintage dresses and aprons. The aprons were white with a pattern ofsmall pink flowers. Each of these flowers was pierced with a safety pin, which was open. The audio was the sound of chains with voices repeating “we have received orders not to move”.This piece was a meditation on gender control both from within and without. Increating the piece I attempted to fill the gender roles women are meant to fill and, in doing so, forced myself to confront my failings in this area. I used inherited sewing kits from my grandmother and great grandmother to sew the aprons by hand despite having no sewing knowledge or experience. The kneeling position of the performers references the sexual roles and expectations which are placed upon women. In both the making of the aprons and the kneeling, I failed according to traditional standards – I was not able to kneel for hours on the end and the stitching on the aprons was inconsistent and flawed. The open safety pins are a visual representation of the pain involved with fulfilling traditional gender roles. The pink flowers are representative of feminine innocence, while the open safety pins express the pain involved when this fantasy of purity is pierced with reality. The audio states “we have received orders not to move”, the voice could belong to one of the people kneeling or from an outsider – this was left purposefully ambiguous. Either way, the people have chosen to obey their orders and, in doing so, intentionally torture themselves.

Hajji

It was just after 9-11 when Hart Viges joined the Army and the start of the occupation. He entered Iraq in March 2003. As a mortar man, he had his first taste of what he calls the loss of humanity that comes with war, when he helped set up rounds aimed at civilian neighborhoods in a small town on the way to Baghdad. He felt his humanity further slipping away when he fell into the habit of labeling everything with the racist epithet, "hajji." His testimony includes stories of raids on the wrong houses, which resulted in prolonged detention of innocent people, and his refusal to pose for a photo with a dead Iraqi man found lying in the road, not because he was disturbed by the death, but because it wasn't his kill. Later, he found a moment of clarity in the midst of chaos. Training his gun site on the face of a man standing in a doorway with an RPG strapped to his back, he saw an expression of fear and confusion that he understood to mirror his own. He didn't pull the trigger.

In this group performance, four soldiers push a “Hajji” back and forth, forcing the anonymous figure to carry a large, branded rock. This happens, in silence, until the “Hajji” can’t hold it any longer and falls to the ground. The began with the intention of addressing the role that racism plays in war that requires soldiers to dehumanize the enemy. A single set of headphones dangled from a wooden stand in the case that anyone was curious enough to put them on and listen. The soundtrack played the horrific testimonies of the Winter Soldiers—testimonies spoken directly from the mouths of Iraq War veterans, all of whom have defied the pressure to remain silent. While the soldiers pushed the "Hajji" back and forth, three plain-clothed participants passed out pamphlets describing what was happneing and how people could obtain more information:

http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/testimony/video

Jessica Sheu

AsIs Gallery Opening

Lyuda Didovets

Lyuda showed her own personal relaxation ritual with a combination of yoga poses and Christian prayers. The setting resembled that of her room typically during this exercise, candles and incense burning, soothing music playing, and Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling. Emphasis of the piece was on finding a ritual or method of relaxation that works for oneself, implementing pieces from different practices, even if it goes against what one has been taught.

Jenny Viera, "Paint Your Own Bible!"

“Paint Your Own Bible!”
Performance Art Piece by Juanita Jenny Viera
Time: Approx. 20 min.

Description: The table is set up with four bibles on each side, one at the front of the table, and one at the end. There are tea light candles in front of each bible. I am dressed in a conservative outfit consisting of a skirt, blouse, and white blazer, and my feet are bare. I commenced the performance by opening some oil paints and slowly painting the cover of the Bible in front of me. I let the audience decided whether they want to use the materials in front of them to start painting their own Bibles. The whole group was hesitant. Then I began spray painting the edges of my Bible with red spray paint. This initiated a few other people to start decorating their Bibles with watercolor, acrylic, oil, and spray paint. Some chose not to touch the actual text of their Bible, and instead they ripped out the dedication page, or table of contents, and painted on that. As this activity went on, the audio component of my piece could be heard throughout the room. I recorded three days worth of prayers that I had made on a tape recorder. Each time one of the prayers ended, I would say “Amen” and then continue painting my Bible. When the last prayer was heard, I knelt at the front of the table and said “Amen.” I went over to my book bag, and took out a pair of jeans, a hooded black sweatshirt, earrings and some sneakers. I transformed before the class into how I usually dress, and then I began to paint my nails black. When the change was complete I took my painted Bible, put it into my backpack, and exited the room. This signaled the end of my performance.


Artist’s Statement: This piece was inspired by my thoughts on ritual, religion, and tradition. I realized that as I had grown up in the Pentecostal religion, there were many aspects of it that I didn’t comprehend or agree with. I was told to wear skirts only, never dye or cut my hair, never paint my nails, not to dance, or listen to secular music, or swim, etc, I didn’t understand these restrictions and how they kept one close to God and separate from the world. I wanted to be a part of the world, because I had to live in it. Getting accepted into a performance arts high school changed my perspective profoundly. I realized that in a sense my religion was keeping me from culture. I learned that being close to God, or just maintaining a healthy spiritual life, does not have to consist of following a set of rules, but of one’s own searching and desire to know God and love him, and love others. I have learned metaphorically, paint the Bible in my own colors, in colors that I can understand and find beautiful. I find the testimonies of Jesus being open-minded and kind-hearted to all individuals deeply meaningful, and this is what I have chosen to focus on, not on the discrimination and guilt that people have taught me through their interpretations of the Bible.

This performance was not only a challenge for me in that it forced me to question my beliefs, and why I pray and read the Bible. It was also a challenge to my audience. The amount of knowledge and respect for the Bible was tested by the pressure I added unto my audience to paint on their Bibles. Revelation ends with these verses:
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.
So there is an explicit warning against adding or taking away from the Bible, in the Bible itself. Despite this, I feel like the Bible is very subjective and has been used for good and harm. We all create our own meaning, and our sense of what it means to be alive, and who/what it is that’s above us.
The changing of my clothes symbolized the way I had transitioned from being a part of a religious community and into being a part of my peers at high school. It also was representative of the struggle I faced as I tried to embrace what I really wanted to wear, instead of what I had to. I think that humans are the only ones concerned which superficial issues and a higher beings would think of this as vanity.
The end product of my performance shows that this process of finding one’s own faith and meaning can be beautiful. Just as all the painted and not painted Bibles are.

Geoff Bennington

In this piece, Geoff Smoked cigarettes while writing the phrase "I Love You You Fucking Junky" on a piece of canvas as a way of coping with his older brothers death from a heroin overdose. In doing so he also created a ritualistic act to connect with addiction. Geoff smoked about 30 cigarettes within two hours for this, creating an object from his own discomfort. Later, to complete the ritual, he burned the canvas.