Performance

About this Piece

Seven participants were asked to wear a handmade, uncanny mask and were invited to a masquerade lunch. Increasingly distorted music played for the duration. The participants were served by a silent, unfamiliar character named Alex, whose job it was to confuse the guests and make them uncomfortable through various acts. He moved jerkily and robotically, made long and intense direct eye contact, and remained completely silent for the entire duration of the performance. He also exhibited other, more confusing behavior, such as spitting a whole shelled egg out of his mouth, shaking hands uncomfortably, screaming in another room, and exiting the dining space and coming back out with his shirt on backwards. While I played an inviting and familiar host, the purpose of Alex's presence was to contradict my familiarity. The entire room was decorated with mirrors at eye level so the participants had to see themselves at all times, and the masks they were required to wear for the duration were heavy and hot, so the participants had to navigate eating, drinking, and seeing throughout the entire performance. While the food and company were good, they were offset by Alex's unfamiliar presence and the bending of the home environment and scenario they were in.