If Time Permits
As I contemplated need and awareness concerning time and being, the initial idea for the tentative future durational performances emerged. I intend to introspect and further develop critically the composition, the series of performances, ‘If Time Permits.’
Henri Bergson’s theory, la durée of time and consciousness directed me to reflect on my past performative work, ‘By the Window’, 2022. It was an assignment during my MA Performance: Society course at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.
The rapidness of our lifestyle has constricted the quality of being, thinking and reflecting. To allow depth, it requires for one to exist in a time that flows organically, not stuck within the compartmentalised system as Bergson stated, which has been the usual way of our living. Performance art as a discipline, a practice of durational performance, specifically allows one to experience the fluidity of time—la durée as posited by Bergson’s theory.
If Time Permits
I propose a durational performance which is inspired by the mentioned methodology in the Walkbook (Rudd, 2021).
A performance structured with reference to the durational manifesto presented in (Layton, 2022 pg. 248-252).
I will decide for how long I would like to engage in the performance. As of now, I am thinking of the duration between 5 am to 5 pm. Ideally, I would like it to be for 3 days, 72 hours exactly.
I will only consume water during the performance, absent from consuming any solid food.
I will choose a place to sit and observe my surroundings, the spot from where I will sketch my sensorial findings.
I will have a camera on a stand to record me. Unfortunately, I will only be able to record for a certain amount of time due to technical reasons.
I will sketch with a pencil or a pen as I watch and listen simultaneously on a sheet of paper without looking at the paper. It would be more like scanning through the surroundings onto the paper.
I will move around only if needed but mainly, I will be sketching throughout.
Here, I would like to study not just the environment but my capacity to focus on the given duration of time. What is ethics in the context of time and practice? In today’s time where every minute is distributed compactly to fulfil a day’s responsibilities, accommodating a durational performance for 12 hours of a day also needs detailed scheduling and planning. Initially, I will be able to manage to perform on my own without any support, but if I intend to do a 3-day performance in the future, then I would need assistance and support to do so. Ethical parameters would be essential here, I think of our obligations and habits that constrict us daily out of free will and thinking.
The format for the second performance:
I will secure a safe and a comfortable seat with a table. There will be a long meter of cotton with a threaded needle and other necessary sewing tools.
Again, I will only drink water during the duration of the performance, and I will stay away from consuming solid food.
There will be a good source of light and a camera on a stand to record my performance.
I will stitch (mostly running stitch) across the length and also across the width.
I will begin with my body. The movements, mostly gentle and soft to make sure that I could sustain myself throughout the duration.
I will then, reflect my feelings, understanding, and thoughts unto stitches.
I do not know if I could build a connection between the mentioned two acts; one that flows unattached to any tools and the other that is adhered to the sharp tools with familiar patterns. How can structured stitches that are suspended into a cloth hold the free organic flow? Or does it interrupt and break, resonating the time we compartmentalise?
Time does feel like it is not enough at many times, and we may feel constrained by the lack of it (Layton, 2022). Consumed by societal and personal obligations, it gives a little space for needed time for one to exist in a moment authentically. As a child, many of us may have experienced time at a slower pace where one year felt like a very long time that we could not even imagine. I wonder if it is our awareness of daily lives filled with our responsibilities, goals and so on that compels time to pass by quickly, whereas as a child, one tends to be out of touch with many nuances of living. So, is this the reason why one may feel time passing by slowly, then? Perhaps we did create a compartmentalised concept of time that could be distributed accordingly, in order to create ways to live through such slowness. I personally experience disturbance time and again, in need of a flow.
(Layton, 2022) mentions time to be actually more of a fluid form like cinema which prompts me to think of recording my performance continuously into an entire film. Besides the technical obstacles, how would a story be told in such a style? The story that may not center the human emotions but on the complex relations between time, space and being. Perhaps less of human influence and more of the organic unfolding would take place in such an arrangement. Also, I would be equally interested in taking selected pictures during the performance as a way to engage in image-making along with movement and stitching—mage-making as a compartmentalised sense of action.
At the end, the three different performances, the movement, the stitching, and the sketching will be layered along and against one another into a poetic composition. The selected images will also be present in some form taking their places organically or strategically (for specific reasons) within the composition. Simultaneously or within interrupted segments, all four footages will interact and play exhibiting complex visuals that considers time within space, and the body that entered la durée through the discipline of performance art.
I have no exact understanding at the moment of why and how things will develop, but it would be an experiment bringing in the infusion of durational along with compartmentalised segments. I will reflect on the whole process through text, and I will leave the stitched textile as is or I may further work on it. Leaving the stitched textile as is, would be exhibiting the pure quality of it, but adding onto it with further process of stitching and composing may display the reality of one’s life that lives within the objective time.
References:
Layton, J 2022, Bergson and Durational Performance : (Re)Ma(r)king Time, Intellect, Limited, Bristol. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [1 December 2024].
Rudd, G 2021 Walking Publics/Walking Arts, URL: https://walkcreate.gla.ac.uk
Keepa Maskey, based in Nepal, is an interdisciplinary artist who has been engaging in practices that have allowed her to break the cultural structures, experimenting with diverse perspectives. Keepa nurtures distinctiveness and interweaves knowledge and practices of Newa, an indigenous community of Nepal, while developing and leaning towards philosophical thinking, valuing the critical process of reflecting and unlearning.
Image credit: 1 & 6, 2022 – by author.