For my interim show I created an installation in the film and video room which housed a performance. The installation comprised of the 'orifice' sculpture, from which the idea had developed, linked up to some faux medical monitoring equipment. Around this, I hung some plastic sheets and a spotlight focused on the sculpture. On the projection screen was a looped video of the sculpture which I had created prior to the event, with accompanying loud bass-y audio. Red, blue and white, the colours of the sculpture were themed throughout the event, including the drinks and sunglasses worn by the actors. The orifice sculpture, originally a symbol for babbling nonsense, became the emphasis of this work. Viewers were made to queue outside whilst they acquired one of the colour coded drinks and a paper paint suit. An actor manned the door informing viewers that the suits were to prevent them from, 'contaminating the orifice'. The colour code came about by chance of the raw materials from which the sculpture was made, however I found their likening to both the logo of Tesco's and the French flag humorous and interesting. Along with the initial ideas that arose from the sculpture, I wanted to create this colour coded environment as a suggestion of generic uniform or authority. As the viewers were being greeted at the door and the importance of cleanliness around the orifice was emphasised, I was also greeting them as they came in the door, using a megaphone. The sound from the projection was intentionally loud, attempting to immerse the viewer, so the megaphone was needed both to communicate and to serve as an action of hilarity. The viewers/participants were then prompted to thank the orifice for their ideas, one by one. This action was as satirical and unrealistic as the overall idea of the sculpture holding some sort of wisdom. This was my first time experimenting with performance and I found it quite difficult to take seriously. I am happy that I developed the ideas from the orifice as a single sculpture into this larger work but I do not feel the performance as a 'live' element was crucial. However, with the manipulation of editing, the documentation will serve well as a part to a film, a further development. I wish to use the documentation as one part of a film, the second part focusing on the character, which manned the door, as a cvonfused professor. His thoughts on the event will be narrated, through which I will vent my own loosely problematic questions regarding the work. The thoughts that are narrated will be a mixture of fiction and reality, including my real thoughts on the work. I have been thinking about what it meant for me to be included in the performance, the basis of a sculpture in a performance installation and the colour coding; did it work, what did it display?
