L-plans/opens and shuts is an accumulation of materials, poems, and writing stored in a deconstructed 3 ring binder. Between March and May of 2019 I performed a sequence of actions in my own home, as my own subject, my own audience, creating my own documentation through video and writing.
sentence scratch crack poem
edge of right angle defiance
sign of line sign of lime
earth in built powder
stone arm disarm man-made flat world
a crack is a ridge of a text bridge
sheath of a surface
shallow here deep there poke me peel me
doubting Thomas believe me
edge of expel in a wall page shadow
stretch of sheath I seek your source
standing bird lady flying violent
stillness clothed naked
a venus of sorts amongst other headless bodies
wet wood parting sea does not see you see?
another woman split up the middle
full frontal
on all
four sides
walking on water splintered by clipped wing
creamy stone grounded
cool
murky provenance for future countertops
Captured prowess
utters mouthless cry of victory
a page, a flag, and a manual of instructions
Artists’ books avail the secretive, the unexpected, and the radical through a recognizable form. The obvious becomes less obvious by nature of content. The anatomy welcomes sensorial response; its hollows and folds, faces and edges, crevices and creases beckon turnings and returnings. Resting bed-like, text and image in repose, the book is a back to front body, generously contained and located. I enter and align my thinking with its bound materiality, confusing its demateriality. Participatory, collaborative, and communicative by nature, artists’ books require a meal-like pause, provide table top nourishment, and suggest a digestive viewing process.
5/7/2019 Tuesday 6:47 start time
A self-subtraction
Black-L darker today
Later today
I began looking at the kitchen door leading to the hallway, and entered the L__________, Realizing once I shut the door that all the doors were not shut, as they have been for the past two performances. I shut the doors and began again (my bedroom door, bathroom door and window, Sarah’s bedroom door). I exited and entered again. I stepped into the right angle of the L___________
L_____________ Here and took a few breaths and wondered what makes this a performance
(What makes this) a performance? And how will I record this.
I walked to the south end of the L__________ X here
and looked back at where I began
The interval between the blinking green light seemed less even this time. Maybe my counting pace was irregular. I waited 3 intervals (of blinks) and then turned to my right and headed into the bathroom
open closet linen door open linen closet left open toilet seat push shower curtain to the right then left, then right again, then left
It remains pushed to the left and I left everything like that---------- OPEN
I exited and shut the bathroom door behind me. I waited three intervals of the blinking smoke detector and then entered Sarah’s room. I slid her closet door shut, then slid it open again. I walked over to the shaded west window but could not see the outside. The shade is both translucent and opaque. It lets light in but I cannot see through it. I stared briefly at the south facing window and thought to leave. I then noticed two towels, wet lying on the ground, and studied their folds. I then thought to leave but noticed that the closet doors were swinging like a pendulum.
I want to record this movement and sound
(In writing this down I realize my actions are out of order)
This actually happened before I went into Sarah’s room. After three intervals I went to the hallway closet and opened the door. It scares me to be in the dark, staring into more darkness. I count the space between the 5 shelves.
There are six intervals of space between the shelves.
The space between the shelves feels harmonious in its irregularity
So I return to the exit from Sarah’s room. I exited the room and stood at the top of the L______. I walked up to the right angle and faced east, and realized the shift in light. I turned back to face south and walked to my bedroom door. I stared at my closed door then opened it, and made note of the light in the room and my clothing layered onto the caddy. I entered and turned and made a number of arrangements with the doors, more interested in the sound of the knocking than the arrangements today. I left the doors stacked without making note of how they were stacked. I turned around and walked around my bed to the bathroom. I noticed the glow of a light from Dewey school (that must be scheduled when it starts to get dark)
It reminds me of the glow of blinking light.
I stopped again.
The window was open because of the WD40 oil used on my faucet 2 1⁄2 weeks ago. I shut the door behind me and felt my body in the smaller space. I opened and shut the shower door twice, placing my hang bar just right so the shower door just cleared it, with a minimal amount of space, and thought about how one thing can brush up against another even when it doesn’t touch it. I left the shower door closed, and opened the lined closet. Opened. I do not remember if I left the toilet seat open. I stared out the window and noticed some lilacs blooming, and the bright green of the apple blossom tree outside. Is it an apple blossom (or crab apple)? I noticed my face in the mirror, and felt I exited the bathroom and shut the door behind me my chin and neck I looked at myself in the mirror and walked around my bed and out of the room. I waited three intervals at the south end of the L__________. I then walked to the right angle of the L_________ and looked east. I stared at the light coming through the vent, then walked to the east where Helen’s room is and looked at the light from that angle. I then stayed for two intervals of blinks and walked towards the kitchen door. I paused to notice the glow from the alarm keypad on the wall. It was like a neon shadow. I want to photograph that glow
My end time today was 6:58. This action was just over 10 minutes today. It is now 7:41. I have been writing for 40 minutes
