Maximum Birgit
2011-present
2011-present
I asked anyone I met to record themselves pronouncing my name, to show the differences in each pronunciation and to understand the ownership I have over my own name.



True Self Test or 24 Hour Friendship
2014
2014
Performed between January 2014 and December 2014.
Drawing from a time of extreme lonliness and virtual homelessness, I was floating, out of contact with friends and family, untethered. I was only “friends” with strangers. It began as a question about who I am with each person, a self portrait based on the limitations or extentions which are revealed with each encounter. The time limit reflects the nature of friendship, the meaning of meeting and saying goodbye. How do we hold a memory of a relationship after it is physically over? No more contact, physical or virtual. Each friendship was also a decision for the participants: Will they decide to follow the rules? What is different when a friendship has a decided end?
Each 24 Hour Friendship was a private experience between myself and the participant.
Drawing from a time of extreme lonliness and virtual homelessness, I was floating, out of contact with friends and family, untethered. I was only “friends” with strangers. It began as a question about who I am with each person, a self portrait based on the limitations or extentions which are revealed with each encounter. The time limit reflects the nature of friendship, the meaning of meeting and saying goodbye. How do we hold a memory of a relationship after it is physically over? No more contact, physical or virtual. Each friendship was also a decision for the participants: Will they decide to follow the rules? What is different when a friendship has a decided end?
Each 24 Hour Friendship was a private experience between myself and the participant.
