San Francisco, CA

Social was a performance that took place twice at the San Francisco Art Institute; once with Sharon Grace and the other with Tony Labat. Participants entered a semi-darkened, empty studio, lined up against the wall and were instructed to place the provided blindfold and ear plugs on their person. Non-participants were not allowed in the studio. Once participants were similarly attired each was guided, individually and randomly, by the hands from the wall to a spot in a pre-arranged circle of chairs, the number of which matched the number of participants. Once all participants were sat they were asked to reach out, find and hold their respective neighbor’s hands - the identity of whom was unknown - and sit in silence for duration of five minutes. Upon completion of that time each participant was guided, individually and randomly, to a similarly random position against the wall. Once all participants were returned, blindfolds and ear plugs were removed.

These performances were the first attempts to communicate an atypical, non-dominant sensory way of experiencing the world.