Early Performance Work > Window

window (detail 1)
window (detail 1)
performance
2003

The performance of Window took place in the summer of 2003 at 311 W. Broad Street. I remained in a window approximately three feet wide by ten feet long for a duration of seven days. I confined myself strictly to that of the widow's ledge and did not leave it at any point for 168 hours. I also limited my communication to that of hand written messages and physical gestures only (in other words I didn't speak or make noise with my mouth). The public communicated with me using paper and I to them with sticky notes.

My original intent for this piece was fairly simple in that I wanted to explore a new space, to engage it in an unconditional way, and observe how my presence altered that space. Any notion on how I communicated with the public seemed to me a novelty. Of course during the performance my attitude towards these ideas reversed themselves considerably. My communication and interaction with the public proved to be the most fascinating, and my physical state and location the novelty. I communicated with approximately two hundred people (documentation of the number of people became difficult as I began to recycle the notes used in previous conversations) By the third day I was receiving typed letters from strangers as well as entertaining "conversations" on a 24-hour basis.