The Hijack: A collaborative Performance Piece Initiated by Julia Wallace and Nancy Douthey

Posted by Julia Claire Wallace
This is an excerpt from the EXTREMELY exciting and interesting new Houston art blog entitled,
The Life Art of Julia Claire Wallace

Andrea Grover's Participation art class received an email from students Nancy Douthey and Julia Claire Wallace telling them to come to class prepared to perform a fluxus score that incorporated the thing that they do best.

They showed up to class and were separated into three specifically chosen groups. One group went with local artist and chosen driver, Aisen Chacin. One group joined Julia Claire Wallace, and the other group joined Nancy Douthey. These last two groups were secretly recorded. All three cars received a disposable camera to document the night.



They eventually found the HOV lane headed South, Julia in the lead. They drove and drove until they finally arrived at the ocean. They parked on the seawall next to a statue commemorating the flood of 1900.

They gathered on a raised stage like area and performed.

The first performance was lead by Elia Arce. She split the group in two and placed them on either side of the stage facing her. She lead the groups in a choir-esque yelling match in which she took turns feeding each group lines that she had gathered from advertisements to yell at the other group.

The second performance was lead by Michael Brims who lead the group in a vocal exercise using the Ohm sound.

The third performance consisted of everyone performing the score that they were instructed to bring which incorporated the thing that they do best. They all performed these scores simultaneously:
Nick Teel did a fancy finger trick
Julia Claire Wallace documented her thought process using a digital recorder
Patrick O'brien Doyle played guitar
Nancy Douthey wrote a to do list
Tyson Urich acted like a bum (?)
Shawna Florida ran
Elia Arce laughed
Andrea Grover collected information and redistributed it
Sebastian Forray drew the back of people's heads
John Sanchez did hair
etc.

Then everyone began switching off, everyone tried laughing, a few people recorded their thought processes, wrote to do lists, playing guitar, drawing the backs of people's heads etc.

After that performance was done. The group recreated another 60's photo on the seawall in the dark. John Sanchez stood on a chair with his arms raised conducting the sea, and the rest of the class sat around him.

Then they all went home in the cars of their choice.

A significant aspect of this piece is that it was created to put the ideas of the class into motion. Students had suggested going to Galveston in a previous class to recreate the photo brought in by Sebastian Forray. Aisen Chacin had suggested doing a fluxus score where everyone did what they do best. Nancy Douthey and Julia Claire Wallace wanted to see their classmates art realized.

No comments: