In this repetitive state of being/living (2019)
Documented Performance
1/2 inch cardboard, watercolor tape, hours spent with box
I fit into a cardboard box, embody the box and build relationship with it.
Preliminary drawing for fitting into a box
try to fit.
yoga.
hug the self.
lift the ceiling.
find comfort with a loved one.
Other instructions for fitting into a box
point at different corners of box.
touch all sides of box with your body.
feel distorted with another.
read a book in the box.
attempt to move box, inside box.
“I fit into a box five times the size of this box. I spoke into this box about fitting into the box five times the size of this box after having done so.”
“The indolence I love is not that of a lazy fellow who sits with his arms across in total inaction, and thinks no more than he acts but that of a child which is incessantly in motion doing nothing, and that of a dotard who wanders from his subject. I love to amuse myself with trifles, by beginning a hundred things and never finishing one of them, by going or coming as I take either into my head, by changing my project at every instant, by following a fly through all its windings, in undertaking with ardor the work of ten years and abandoning it without regret at the end of ten minutes; finally, in musing from morning until night without order or coherence, and in following in everything the caprice of a moment.” - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The subject of boredom but boredom turn to inspiration and passion….Boredom resulting to exciting projects about miniscule day to day things.
Bruce Nauman documented his piece called Flour Arrangements where he did nothing but arrange flour in various ways on the floor of his studio for a whole month. John Baldessari made art with his body and documented it as a video, repeating “I am making art” as he shifted his arms and position little by little. Kelly Mark handed multiple domestic items toward her cat for her to sniff and documented his action in a seven minute video, calling it Sniff.
John Cage said, if something is boring for two minutes, try it for four, six, eight. Eventually, it is not boring at all, it is very interesting.
And so, I fit into a box. A very non exciting action made interesting through ongoing investigation, personifying the box, figuring out its relationship with my body and self and documentation which is visually stimulating to help encourage the viewer's interest in something that may, yes, be very boring. Before the final documentations, I had built two boxes. One made of cardboard (what is documented above) and one of birchwood. After having spent some time in both the boxes, I realize I enjoy much more time with the cardboard box rather than the more expensive birch. Cardboard is an everyday object which is cheap and can easily be discarded. Although significant in its purpose of packaging, it is overlooked and regarded as something so insignificant and neglectable. However, there is something great about these trivial objects. The cardboard box is warmer. It is lighter, easy to transport and much more convenient for my use. It is definitely not as sturdy as the birch; however, I found worth in its fragility as if it is more human.