parking lot play or putting the park back in parking lot
this was for my performance class, we had to collaborate on a project, the score was;
in an empty parking lot, construct a game.
utilizing found objects design a game with winning parameters.
my intention in this was to explore the idea of play in a space that is not designed for such activities.
we performed it twice, both so we could have a practice round, but also so I could compare the difference between having a commited audience vs just performing towards the genral public.
the first time (wednesday), we went in with no plan, simply the score,
I told my friend will (who was the security guard), that we’d be walking around the parking lot, and that it might look sketchy but we aren’t doing anything bad
“so don’t worry, it’s just performance art”
we walked around struggling to come up with something more complex than “first person to get to that puddle wins!”
we also realized it couldn’t be too complex, had to be made and communicated verbally.
by the time we came up with something the rules went;
find something to flip to determine who goes first we found what I would describe as a cocaine spoon
each pick a color (at least one car in the parking lot must have this color)
at each car of your color write down the numbers
compare amount of total cars found with opponent, if one has a higher amount they must remove the latest ones found
stand next to eachother at one end of the parking lot
walk the amount of steps represented by the number of first number
once both players have moved wait 3 seconds then repeat with the next number in the sequence
players walk in a straight line trying to get as close to the other end of the parking lot
if you reach it and still have steps left you must turn around and continue
whoever ends up closest at the end of all movement wins
(I’d be curoius to see how lottie’s remembering of the rules differs)
after we had finished playing, while discussing and refining certain aspects we were approached by will,,,
I told him not to worry.
we tried explaining the rules and quickly lost him
“it’s just gamer talk man”
funnily enough he left once we asked if he wanted to play a round... hurt
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now to today when lottie and I reperformed it in front of the class
I was thinking about what our assistant teacher jason had said (paraphrasing here;)
“collaboration is about multiple bodies in space...
multiple brains are being used...
an egalitarian structure”
I feel like creating a game (rules + winning perameter) is a perfect way to go about collaboration
I think us coming up with the game was the most important part of the piece
two people having to work together
coupling that with all that is involved with a parking lot
I think since there were more attentive eyes on me this time, I was perceiving myself more
walking around and stopping in front of cars to record their license plate made me feel like I was in parking enforcement
something about holding an umbrella during this made it feel like my phone was a clipboard
like I was doing something important
I also noticed how powerful it felt to be in the way of cars trying to leave
I think since I was doing an art project/homework assignment I felt a sense of invulnerabilty
obviously the car is more dangerous, but this does link to pedestrians typically having right of way in portland
as well as the sense of lawlessness that exists in parking lots, an inbetween space of public and private
while I prefered having the public as audience it was interesting having more bodies occupying traffic space in an active parking lot, more people who weren’t even playing the game but incidentally slowing traffic
despite being a willing audience and paying attenition, my class will never be able to match what the security guard will brought. a complication in having an art audience is the viewing/respect that comes with it, the default is always to not engage and just watch, we didn’t give any directions at all and we were even prepared if one of them did ask us any questions.
I don’t want to have to give the audience any directions, I want to keep finding the magic of people approaching out of their own interest outside of being in class or attending the scheduled performance.
which is why I’ll be returning to public unannounced performance art
after playing three more rounds I can think of some possible rule changes;
when equaling out the number of cars on the number list, let the person with more choose what to keep, this would add strategy to trying to find the perfect amount of steps...
could as try not traveling in a straight line, or having to commit to what one step looks like
alternatively it could be changed to whoever goes the furthest, I felt bad that lottie traveled further every time but I was always closer in the end.
benita getting a video from the second floor of the library
*does it add to the performance of it all, that we’re using umbrellas in portland?