Unit 3 Portfolio
Costume Project-Sand Hat
Sand Hat, a performative costume, consists of a stream of sand falling from a large hat over the performers body. The costume’s form shifts constantly in accordance with the cascading of the sand, and as such explores not only the constantly shifting from of nature, but also our cultural attempt to contain, control, and curate this constantly shifting form. As such it is performed in front of a rough patch of brambles and overgrown grass, barely contained behind a wire fence.
The costumes inspiration comes from the sacred form of the circle, drawing from religious imagery of halos, third eyes, and the sun and moon. The dress is inspired by designers like Hussein Chalayan, and Alexander Mcqueen, while the hat draws from the designs of Harris Reed.
The Original Design of the costume featured a flat hat covered in sand, however in order to further express our cultural attempt to contain natures form it was redesigned to obscure the sand until the moment it falls from the hat.
Instructions for Performance
Influenced by the instructional performances of other artists such as Yoko Ono and Sol LeWitt, the above are instructions for performance. Performance instructions are rarely carried out, and as such exist primarily as an imagined performance in the mind of the audience. The above instructions take this into consideration and seek to challenge the reader to confront their own vices, secrets, or prejudices through the act of imagining the above performances.
Instructional Performance-Crumpled Paper
Crumpled Paper is an instructional performance created by Scott Castner and performed here by Kaiva Kumerova. The performance consists of one page of instructions, and produces a single paper with three names. Additionally the audio of Kaiva’s Performance is included. The piece forces the performer to make difficult decisions about their feelings towards people in the room as well as people in their own life. It counters our unwillingness to be honest with ourselves, instead forcing the performer to confront their intimate decisions.