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.
Reasons for Licking
10–5–2013
10–5–2013
The performance consists of repeatedly licking a small cafe window during regular business hours. The piece has an unlimited time frame and can be seen as an exercise to be performed when great anxiety arises and needs expression. The duration of the piece addresses the excitement, boredom and intimacy found in public spectacle. The act mimics a dog’s need to endlessly lick a wound. It is a meditation on shame, humor, sexuality and acceptance. By performing an absurd and endless act of public licking, my anxieties were unburdened to the crowd and also given personal ownership.
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.
