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CHANNELING AKA RETREADS - Julie Perini
Julie Perini
December 10, 2003
Response Summary: RETREADS
Project title and credits:
Catalysis IV
A re-enactment by Julie Perini of a project originally
carried out by Adrian Piper
Documentation by Meg Knowles
Description:
For this project I tried replicate, in Buffalo, Adrian
Piper's Catalysis IV, originally enacted in New York
City in 1970. On Saturday, November 29, at 4:00pm, I
also dressed very conservatively and stuffed a large
white bath towel into my mouth, letting the rest of it
hang down my front.
I rode the Elmwood bus in Buffalo, NY for about ten
minutes. One friend was present to document the
action.
I then presented these photographs to Caroline
Koebel's Art Practicing the Body class on Tuesday,
December 2, 2003. I showed Adrian Piper's original
documents along with photographs of my re-enactment.
Discuss the strengths and/or shortcomings of the final
project:
Strengths of the project included the rigor with which
I adhered to the original project, only allowing it to
be documented at two points. The documentation came
out very well, and the action went off without any
hitches. The original project was so strong; it was
difficult to mess it up, if carried out to the letter
(more or less)!
One major shortcoming of the project is that I should
not have had my friend with me the entire time I was
enacting Catalysis IV. I do not believe that Adrian
Piper had someone with her the entire time.
Additionally, she spent more than ten minutes walking
around New York City with the bath towel in her mouth;
I should have done the same in Buffalo.
What role did process play in the unfolding of he
idea(s) into the finished work?
Process did play a role in the unfolding of the work.
The process of preparing for the action was
significant – I had thought that I would just ask a
random stranger to document me, then I chickened out
and ran back to my apartment to call a friend for
support, causing a delay for the action. The process
of walking around and riding the bus with a towel in
my mouth was also significant. I was very nervous
that someone would point me out, ask me what was
"wrong" with me, I existed in a very heightened state
of awareness of my surroundings and of the other
people around me. I wasn't thinking about anything
other than the idea of myself as a public anomaly.
Describe your project's conceptual origins in
"Retreads":
I have never experienced this certain intense
sensation of staggering beauty (some might call this a
sublime experience) that I experienced when I first
became acquainted with Adrian Piper's work in
September 2003. I knew that I would need to somehow
use one of her projects for the Retreads assignment.
Although I am familiar with all of her work, the
Catalysis projects were the ones that had initially
blown my mind. It was obvious that I would need to
replicate one for this assignment.
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