May 20 performance: DRUG
Top of William Street - a little pedestrian lane leading to the Byward Market
off of the main drag, Rideau.
There are two curved fountains flanking the entrance which make for an area that is highly visible, yet not dead centre of a pathway that pedestrians would then have to negotiate.
I like this set up for a number of reasons:
- The couples are particularly integrated into the architecture of the space, filling the curve of the cement/brick/railing and neatly tucked in behind the flower arrangements and light post. Little fountain flowing behind.
- This area also becomes a sort of stage - very visible to the passers-by and barflies sitting across the way on patios - yet slightly off to one side.
- It is such a heavy traffic zone! It feels like people are just swarming around us.
Comments and stares abound. Some people even stop to really watch. Many ask "What exactly is going on?" Others photograph and yet others ask if they can join in.
These two young women, part of the young crusty/punk types who hang out here 'en masse' query me directly: "Why is it just boy-girl couples?" And I reply: "Because these are the ones who volunteered."
So they offer their services and jump right in. I place them in front of the light-post, they are now a centre-piece. They also receive the most jeers and heckles of all - but mostly, it seems, from friends or acquaintances of theirs who just want to egg them on. They are brave!
[Interestly, it is mostly younger people, teenagers, who stop to talk to me, often wanting to know "Why are you doing this?" and "Are these 'real' couples?"]
Two more points of interest for me are the inadvertent references this rendition of DRUG makes to two previous public
interventions: Sylvie and I in Rome at the Corner of Four Fountains, re-activating the dried Roman fountains and the same kissing performance as done in St. John's NFLD - also in front of the Scotia Bank Building!
Oh, and the association with a Bank, of course (but that's another story: www.bankofvictoria.com).
Final thoughts: I didn't participate in this current interpretation of the piece. I'm still not used to not being *in* my own performance. But I am appreciating the opportunity to stand outside of it and look at the whole picture. To see the performance unfolding in its public context, and the way the work is a part of and apart from the world around it.
off of the main drag, Rideau.
There are two curved fountains flanking the entrance which make for an area that is highly visible, yet not dead centre of a pathway that pedestrians would then have to negotiate.
I like this set up for a number of reasons:
- The couples are particularly integrated into the architecture of the space, filling the curve of the cement/brick/railing and neatly tucked in behind the flower arrangements and light post. Little fountain flowing behind.
- This area also becomes a sort of stage - very visible to the passers-by and barflies sitting across the way on patios - yet slightly off to one side.
- It is such a heavy traffic zone! It feels like people are just swarming around us.
Comments and stares abound. Some people even stop to really watch. Many ask "What exactly is going on?" Others photograph and yet others ask if they can join in.
These two young women, part of the young crusty/punk types who hang out here 'en masse' query me directly: "Why is it just boy-girl couples?" And I reply: "Because these are the ones who volunteered."
So they offer their services and jump right in. I place them in front of the light-post, they are now a centre-piece. They also receive the most jeers and heckles of all - but mostly, it seems, from friends or acquaintances of theirs who just want to egg them on. They are brave!
[Interestly, it is mostly younger people, teenagers, who stop to talk to me, often wanting to know "Why are you doing this?" and "Are these 'real' couples?"]
Two more points of interest for me are the inadvertent references this rendition of DRUG makes to two previous public
interventions: Sylvie and I in Rome at the Corner of Four Fountains, re-activating the dried Roman fountains and the same kissing performance as done in St. John's NFLD - also in front of the Scotia Bank Building!
Oh, and the association with a Bank, of course (but that's another story: www.bankofvictoria.com).
Final thoughts: I didn't participate in this current interpretation of the piece. I'm still not used to not being *in* my own performance. But I am appreciating the opportunity to stand outside of it and look at the whole picture. To see the performance unfolding in its public context, and the way the work is a part of and apart from the world around it.