Performance Project - Aileen Herrera

For my performance, I decided I wanted to touch upon the topic of capitalism, consumerism, and over consumption but through a ‘mundane task’, in this case it’s putting away books in a bookcase. Taking inspiration from performance artists like Yoko Ono and Shaun Leonardo. Mirzoeff in “How We See The World”, stated,  “Networked cultures are intensifying the visual component and moving past speech.” I enjoyed how they communicated their topics with no communication or lack of spoken words, which is something I wanted to achieve with my own video. “The simplicity of her work may have been derided for years, but it is exactly that which makes it greatly accessible” (Lansroth). The uncomplicated nature of these performances made them a bit confusing at first but as their performances go on, you catch onto what they are to address, but that simplicity, in my opinion, only intensifys the overall performace and message.

 In my video, I am putting away books in my bookcase but facing away the books I haven’t read. As I put more books away, you start to realize I have more books unread than read. On the ground, you can see the covers of a bunch more books waiting to be put away. Khan Academy quotes, “challenged viewers by presenting the most mundane events—brushing teeth, making a salad, exiting the theater—as forms of art.” I wanted to showcase something mundane that was more so left up to interpretation.  

 Reading is one of my hobbies but with that comes the hobby of buying books. I’ve always been somewhat of a shopaholic but when it comes to books it's a whole other level. I will buy books that I know I won’t touch for months, maybe even years just because I like the euphoric feeling of being in a book store and walking out with plenty of new books. I’m very aware I’m feeding into capitalist ideas of needed more and more things I really do not need, but the question is why do I keep doing it? My guess is, social media. As an avid user of tiktok and youtube, I come across hundreds of videos, daily, of people doing book hauls (sometimes of 40+ books), book shopping, or recommending the latest book that is a “must have”.  I think it’s an important question that goes beyond books. A lot of people to a degree over consumes something especially when it comes to buying. We live in a society that normalizes these large purchases, and we are just starting to effects of it.  

Instructions:

Beach Piece

go to the beach 

build a sandcastle near the waves 

stomp on the sandcastle 

watch the remainder of the sandcastle get swallowed by the waves

lay where your castle was and get pulled into the ocean 

never to be seen again

Room Piece

sit in an empty room and watch the walls bleed 

get up and touch the walls smear the blood on your clothes 

sit back down 

drown in the blood