Widowsweave Exhibit Postcard

21 Widowsweave Actions

20 Widowsweave actions (which may be performed during exhibit)

 1. Draw 3,000,000 lines

 2. Crouch on floor of chalk room for one hour

 3. Self or performer, rolling on chalked floor

 4. Sit on end of slab

 5. Two veterans sit on both ends of slab

 6. Two widows sit on both ends of slab

 7. Stand back-to-back in chalked room

 8. Fill entire space with people, exit one by one at 5 sec intervals

 9. Perform choreographed piece – self, dancer, or both – separately or together

10. Read speech or talk from center of room

11. Sit and hold discussion in chalk room, about art and women in Muslim society

12. Read names of Iraqi widows in Chicago – self or widow

13. Iraqis sit, facing out, on slab in circle

14. Jaber speaking/interviewed on Iraqi women

15. Kevin interviewed

16. Panel discussion with Iraqi women

17. Iraqi woman (or artist) draws one line down center of back wall

18. Groups chalk lines

19. Sweep up extra chalk into pile

20. Play If I Could Sing in space

21. Sing If I Could Sing in space a cappella

Interview Without Audio

I guess we all make mistakes sometimes.  I brought a Zoom recorder, and Lav and a Beta57a, but I didn't use any of them for a short debrief after our performance.  And of course our Camera's phantom power switch got switched off in the case.  So I have video, but not audio of the discussion.

I asked if anyone had responses to the performing of the drawing of lines in the sand, and I think everyone felt some connection, to each other, to widows in Iraq, to the bystanders at the beach.  Matt said that at first he was thinking of widows being older women, but that after a while it dawned on him that many of the widows in Iraq are young, probably his age.  I think Sarah concurred.  Jaber said that it was true and that the widows came in all ages and having different economic status, and that it was very difficult, for them and their children. 

We also talked about how at times we were concentrating on the counting of the lines, but how it eventually became more of a meditation.  Jabur said that he was thinking about the faces of women he worked with in Iraq, and the promises he made to help them.  He has hope that together we can make a difference for these women.  He said that he had trouble not tearing up.

We all felt that this was moving, worthwhile and should be expanded.

Widows: Lines in the Sand 11/7/09 Action Day

Today was the first group performance of Widows: Lines in the Sand. Core Project  in conjunction with Bodyrewired and Jaber Alturfee performed and documented on the 31st Beach, covering a large portion of the beach with lines memorializing the repetitive labor of widows in Iraq.  We drew over ten thousand lines collectively while imagining (or in Jabur's case remembering the faces) of widows in desperate need of aid, stability or hope.  Many people stopped to ask us why and what we were doing, and we received a variety of responses from curious to supportive.  I have yet to encounter an angry response.

Busy, Busy

Too busy to blog right now.  Since last:

• still have to review critique tape 
• Went to MCA and talked with Esam Pasha, a student named Majd, and Allen Turner
• Met with Jabur on Monday and talked about projects and life for both of us
• Met with Paul about registration
• Thesis class Critique
• Planned collaborative performance with Core Project and Body Rewired for Saturday
  
• Created Emily Jacir homage, installed during Art as Spiritual Pracice
• Met with Laurie N. about work, not-for-profit, and catch-up
  

Body Revisited

Bodyrewired met yesterday to catch up on summer news/thesis ideas/past projects/Bonesbare3 ideas.
It's going to be a busy but exciting year.  For Core Project's Bonesbare, we discussed humor and decided to try to have ourselves in public places wearing masks we make of ourselves.  We can wear our own or switch.  We only have about a month to come up with a rough edit of all footage, so it will be a real challenge, but it should be funny at least!

Concrits - with Core Project

Concrits were today down at the Dance Center. It was a great privilege to watch these great agile dancers "think" through using their movement in these rehearsals. The critiques seemed more about movement and flow than about "dance" or content. I felt that they had already talked through content - or that they just understood the body motion in ways that were beyond my expertise. I did understand or feel a lot of it and enjoyed watching each peice unfold and each critique get to the point: how to make it work.

Susan and I both showed some video work, and Susanne's work was also shown, so Bodyrewired had full representation. I showed the part of my shorter Lines in the Sand documentation while talking about a group action day. The group felt that they would be able to help when I get my concept down clearer. I mentioned that perhaps diferent movements could be represented to further the mimicked domestic chores begun at Oxbow. There was some discussion about exploring the differences between the solo act of my drawing of the lines vs. the group action of dancers vs. the interpretation by passersby. One person thought that documentation of the different types of line made by different participants would be interesting. My saving of the sticks used to make the lines was also of interest, as it resonated witht the desire to bring things back from digital virtuality to 3-dimentional reality.

I mentioned that I still have to contact not-for-profits and or State Department resources to see what help can actually be offered. Matt said that in working with one charitable group, someone had said that sometimes just doing something beautiful to raise awareness is enough. I'm not sure yet. We'll see.

Body Rewired

We met with each other, and then consulted with David Jude Green. We want to accept Core Project's invitation to work as media consultants, or assistant media persons or directors or whatever, though not so formally as to be actually a part of Core Project.

We spent some time talking to David about collaboratives, the Chicago art scene, and college teaching. I think that we first need to work together on some project, see how it goes, talk about our common interests and come up with a tentative mission statement. Then we can see how it will work. Also we need to start seeking exhibition opportunities for our individual and collective work.