Year: 2016

Realized in a re-purposed bank in Detroit, Place and Borrow is an interactive performance work for actor and media. The piece was developed for G. Louise Cooper, who gave the performance and installed the work in the multidisciplinary art space Grand on River as part of MicroMacro Art Biome (catalogue pdf). The video was shot by Remi Slade-Caffarel.

The basic premise of the piece is that somehow, through the process of installing the exhibit, the formerly abandoned bank has woken up to find itself an art space. It channels its dual nature through a head teller/performer and attempts both to continue its business as a bank and performance venue. This is America, 2016.

The media includes bismuth, lead, paper, string, bio-plastic, a wireless, head-mounted camera, projector, and a remote control vehicle.

A detailed description of the piece, script, and other relevant materials can be found here.

Photos of the piece can be found here.

original footage.

Poetry: John Berryman reading (University of Iowa in 1968) Dream Song #16, excerpt, from 77 Dream Songs.

Henry’s pelt was put on sundry walls
where it did much resemble Henry and
them persons was delighted.
Especially his long & glowing tail
by all them was admired, and visitors.
They whistled: This is it!

Golden, whilst your frozen daiquiris
whir at midnight, gleams on you his fur
& silky & black.
Mission accomplished, pal.
My molten yellow & moonless bag,
drained, hangs at rest.

Collect in the cold depths barracuda. Ay,
in Sealdah Station some possessionless
children survive to die.
The Chinese communes hum. Two daiquiris
withdrew into a corner of the gorgeous room
and one told the other a lie.

Music: Ich bin der welt abhanden gekommen from Rückert-Lieder, Gustav Mahler | LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA | Claudio Abbado | Magdalena Kožena (mezzo-soprano)

Recorded August 2009 in Lucerne, Switzerland. Published by Euroarts on DVD and Blu-Ray.

lucernefestival.ch/en/shop

Based on a text in German by Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866) , no title, from Liebesfrühling, in 4. Vierter Strauß. Wiedergewonnen, no. 29

Lyrics:

I am lost to the world
with which I used to waste so much time,
It has heard nothing from me for so long
that it may very well believe that I am dead!

It is of no consequence to me
Whether it thinks me dead;
I cannot deny it,
for I really am dead to the world.

I am dead to the world’s tumult,
And I rest in a quiet realm!
I live alone in my heaven,
In my love and in my song!

[ The video is a composed of found footage from various sources ]

Footage captured by Selina Doroshenko during a Maya + Rouvelle artist talk/performance at MICA’s Graduate Studios Salon in Baltimore. Audio: John Berryman reading Dream Song 14.