performance for a single audience
duration: 6 months
Commissioned by performingborders.
London, 2021-2022
In 2021, the formidable founding director of Live Art Development Agency stepped aside to make space for new diverse leadership. To mark this momentous transition, performingborders commissioned me to create a one-to-one experience for Lois Keidan as a parting gift.
I wrote to artists and curators who had worked with Lois over the years, and asked if they would share some personal reflections on her, for a performance entitled a(t)tribute, which would be gifted to Lois.
My letter read:
“...Lois shall be the sole subject and audience of a(t)tribute. I invite you to contribute a text of any length, in which you address Lois directly in the second person, and refrain from identifying yourself by name. I shall gather these tributes from Lois’ community for one month. I will then hand-script each homage and post one to Lois every week, over a period of several months or even years, depending on the total number of contributors.
Each letter shall be handwritten in the style of an old-school love letter, and shall be enclosed in two envelopes. The outer envelope will bear Lois' postal address and postage stamp, while the inner envelope will bear a prompt specific to the anonymous reflection it contains. For example, if your text mentions tears, the prompt might read, "Open during a downpour".
Lois has accepted my invitation to participate in a(t)tribute, and she’s aware that it’s a one-to-one experience created exclusively for her, consisting of letters posted to her over an undetermined period. The idea is that the content of the letters will at first be curious and/or puzzling to Lois, as it may reference things she knows I’m not privy to. Then a gradual realisation that the content of each individual letter originates from various people within her community – ranging from those with whom she has significant shared histories, to newer acquaintances upon whom she has nevertheless made an impact...”
When a(t)tribute concluded six months later, I sent each contributor an image of their text handwritten alongside its prefacing instruction.
* Deep thanks to my generous and trusting contributors, without whom this work would not exist.