She's Normally Open

Collaboration with Michelle Leonhart

An electronic performance piece. The audience is asked to wear metal-tipped gloves and feel the "robotic" performer. Conceptually, whatwe are doing in this piece is testing the boundaries of discomfort and personal space. She’s Normally Open is a whimsical social commentary. The suit features a large number of circuits wired all over the wearer’s body, all with a single gap per circuit. When the participant comes into contact with a circuit gap with their glove, the circuit will be closed, and the participant will obtain a reaction from the suit. (The action varies depending on the location of the touch. Some current reactions include light patterns within the suit, buzzers, sirens, etc.) Several audience members are meant to participate at once.

Similar to the project Umbrella.net by Jonah Brucker-Cohen and Katherine Moriwaki, this project deals with exposure of the aspects of social interaction that we often wish to remain hidden. In theory, people will be uncertain and uneasy about touching the performer, and the bright/loud reactions will add to this sensation, further exposing the action of the participant to the surrounding audience.

There are also similarities in this work to Cut Piece by Yoko Ono, where she invited several audience members to come cut a piece of her clothing off one by one, as well as to Rhythm 0, by Marina Abramovic, where she lied on a table for 6 hours and allowed the audience to utilize whatever given object they liked on her impassive body.

All photos are of the creation of the suit. Performance photos are not available due to the fact that the performance must take place in an entirely dark room.