Fading Memories

Fading memories, I would have to agree with Nikki in that at the beginning of the project, I felt a little disjointed from the planning process. I didn't really know how the rest of Mark's pieces had worked, or how he installed them, or what the steps were, so it was hard to make suggestions. But once we got into it, I felt that we all had something to contribute, ideas on how to make the performance more effective. And in the end, as with most collaborative performances I feel, the art takes on a life of its own, leaving all of the planning behind.

One surprise that worked for our benefit was the smaller audience. I thought the fact that we, as the original writers, had to go back up and complete some of our own words, played up the "memory" part of the project, so I thought that was very effective.

One thing I would have changed would have perhaps been taking the time to read our new "mashed up" poem before we took the tape down. It did seem to have an interesting eloquence to it. I think because the poem Casey chose was a selection of short quotes, the new poem more easily took on a life of its own, as opposed to our practice writing that felt more disjointed.

I liked the overall aesthetic of the piece, I liked how after pulling off the blue tape we replaced the blue line with chalk and words. Also, the smudging where people thought that had figured out the right words and then changed there mind, seemed to add to the fading idea and the confusion and the overall haziness of the poem and the work.

I agree that this was a wonderful project to end the class on. I feel that we all got to participate, perform, collaborate, and simply enjoy the process of making art and we got to do it together. It was very inclusive, successful and fun.