Cocoon Performances 1994
College of Fine Arts exhibition space
Materials: glass cabinets, carpet underlay ultramarine pigment, scissors, and miscellaneous objects
Dimensions variable
These two performances were influenced by the Fluxus art movement of the 1960s particularly Joseph Beuys and Yoko Ono. One of Yoko’s performances was called Cut Piece where she stood on the stage before the audience in a dress with a pair of scissors. She invited the audience to come up on stage and use the scissors to cut at her dress. They came slowly at first snipping small amounts of her dress and then more and more until she was naked.
In the last of my performances I was sewn into a carpet underlay cocoon bag by fellow student Fernando Pino. I shivered and shook and moaned. Then after some time used scissors in the bag to cut my way out.
The performances were about overcoming trauma and confusion. That was mainly to deal with the death of my best friend a few years previously.
