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I was interested in the act of listening and how, when talking to people, we are all eager to capture their attention and to receive a little validation from their simple facial expressions, assuming they are following along. I wanted to remove the face, and adding the paper bag was inspired by Shia Labouf’s performance movement where he wore a paper bag on his head that said “I am not famous anymore” during a red carpet. It was a strong image that I wanted to replicate.
This simple performance taught me listening skills and the effort needed to engage the opposite person talking.
In this performance, Are you listening? I locate myself in a secluded closet surrounded by props and loose cables with a table and two chairs facing one another. This performance plays with the idea of communication and listening. As a solo audience member enters, they are guided into the closet, instructed to sit across from me, wearing a paper bag over my head, hiding all facial expressions. They are prompted to talk to me about the topics on the paper before them, and we engage in conversation. However, it is between a human and a computer. I typed out sentences or questions that my computer then spoke for me, attempting to carry on a conversation where the audience member felt like they were not being genuinely listened to.
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