USA Projects

THIS COULD BE SOMETHING IF I LET IT

By Dawn Kasper

OBJECTIVE:

Create a nomadic studio installation environment as part of the Whitney Biennial 2012  and perform within it as a living sculpture over the course of the exhibition.

DESCRIPTION:

THIS COULD BE SOMETHING IF I LET IT is a 3-month durational site-specific performance installation that includes; live performance, music, video, collage, photographs and drawings. All the work is unique and made specifically for this installation. The performance is a new work created from a mash up of three on-going performances.  I will document my time working in the installation as part of the daily performance practice. I plan to invite visitors to schedule studio visits with me, to meet and talk about the project and the work in the installation. I will perform as well as have special guest performers, performing with me inside of the installation. The piece will grow and build, developing over the 3-month residency. Much like life, nothing is fixed, the museum installation builds and grows as I build and grow. The work is different from beginning to end.

HISTORY:

 My work addresses relentless obsessive fascinations with topics such as, exposure, desire, process and meaning. I perform in a calculated yet spontaneous manner, using props to punctuate my actions.  Combining slapstick comedy and monologue to emphasize my thoughts and questions about one’s existence, I want to ask, What is existence? or What is a physical object? I then attempt to answer these life questions, and more, while inhabiting different characters and personas, each differentiated through costume and costume changes, with all shifts taking place before the audience. 

 The environments I perform in provide the forum, an open-air laboratory (of thought), creating both a theatrical space while also doubling as a platform for living sculpture.  I transform the space through the use of props, musical instruments and personas.  I often ritualize my performance environment through the repetition of actions and words.  The culmination of these actions finds my various characters physically building a sculpture that marks my study into being and process, illustrating my findings, resulting with a sculptural installation, activated by performative action. Thus exposing the artistic process to the audience.

FUNDING:

$9,000 will cover costs for the performance and my costs for living in New York during my 3-month residency at the Whitney.  

Why?:

THIS COULD BE SOMETHING IF I LET IT is the biggest project I have ever proposed. It means so much to me my head just might explode, its true. It represents a pivotal turning point for me as a member of my Los Angeles community making work and performing in this day and age; and for me as a human being living in this country. It also represents what a collective effort can achieve. I cannot realize this work alone. I need your help. Please support this project.