A TRANSFIGURATION OF LONGING is a durational piece that raps a ten ounce stone against a wall for 7 hours. The stone slowly erodes away the surface of the wall with each rap signaling the passage of time. The rhythmic beating transitions from a simple sound of yearning into the destructive element of longing.
The structures in my work are built around creating a somatic metaphor, physical manifestations of the emotional as recorded in the body. This work is paced by periodic checks of my pulse that dictate how fast or slow I knock on the wall. To reinforce that connection, the weight of the stone directly correlates with the weight of a human heart and by mere coincidence, the amount of material that dropped out of the wall during the performance also measured ten ounces.
Longing is an act of desire but desire can apply to any situation of otherness. In this performance where seven hours represented seven years, the performance chronicles a passage of time that chronicles a destruction of Self. Back to the audience, the performance is completely between the performer and wall, either one is no more destructive to the other, ending in irreconcilable differences.
Performed at the Waterloo Center for the Arts for the Vertigo Performing Art series, part of University of Northern Iowa
Duration: 7 hours
Date: 2016
Image/Video Credit: Corbett Fogue
a transfiguration of longing (performance 2); Vertigo Performance Art Festival, Waterloo Arts Center; Waterloo, Iowa; October 2016
