Happy News! This project has been selected as one of the recipients for a 2013 Artist-Investigator Grant from the Triangle Arts Lab at Intersection for the Arts and California Shakespeare Theater! The funds will assist in video documentation and the cumulative event.
The grant is designed for open-ended, more experimental projects like this one. Last week, I attended the awards ceremony for the event, which included short talks describing the projects by some finalists and all recipients (for short descriptions of each of the ten finalists, please visit here). From what I learned there, I was the only recipient without at least some sort of theater or video/film background.
After the presentations, both Cal Shakes and Intersection said that part of their goals for these projects was to discover the next direction performance might take. In the initial call, they asked for proposals that asked had a "how" or "where" focus - although some apparently felt that they were both. So they turned the discussion to that of common themes that were cropping up - such as how the mediated experience might be a part of some of them. One suggestion that was made was the relevance of site-specificity, but it was pointed out for my particular project, my body is my site.
Which is interesting, not just in terms of new directions in performance, but in how the body relates to energy, food consumption, and food choices such as locavorism and the 100 mile diet. If the body is a site, what does it mean if the body can make it's own decisions? What does it mean for a body-as-site to move through space, or restrict its movement, particularly in regards to petroleum-based transport? How does a personality affect a body as site?
I think this project will involve bringing others to me, as site and as performance, as I envision cooking and hopefully interviewing investors in my space, in my home. Interestingly enough, this also makes me think about some of my criticisms of Land Art, namely, that it sees nature and landscapes as things to be exploited (and I am exploiting my own body).
Right now, this body has a lot of ideas and thoughts in its head, but I am enjoying how this idea keeps making connections with others. At the awards ceremony, two gentlemen from CalShakes told me that my project had been one of their favorites, and they were really looking forward to seeing how it worked out. More than anything, I want to thank the Triangle Arts Lab, Intersection for the Arts, and the California Shakespeare Theater for this support.
PLEASE NOTE: The Carbon Corpus Project is still looking for investors! If you are interested, please contact me at michelle(at)michellewilsonprojects(dot)com .
