Score:
- Find a friend
- Take a photo
- In your mind pick a part of the photo
- Give your friend a hint
- Have your friend guess the part
Artist Statement:
This score is inspired and connected to a multitude of people and movements. This summer I was hiking the English countryside with some friends and I found us taking hundreds of photos of the trees, hiking paths, cows, small villages, ourselves, and everything in between. We were immersed in nature, yet focused on using our cameras more than actually being present. I think many of us have become photo bugs and people who love to collect memories via photography. Research done by psychologist Maryanne Garry studies the strong correlation between taking too many photos and memory loss (as well as it creating false memories). With modern technology, it can be an easy trap to fall into. I find myself taking photos of everything around me, as to try to remember events and places better, but in reality, it ends up doing the opposite. By following the score, the idea of purposeful photography is encouraged.
This score was also heavily inspired by elements of Yoko Ono’s book Grapefruit. “Painting to be stepped on” captures the footsteps of avant-garde musicians and artists in her Chamber Street loft. What I loved about the score and piece was the focus on forgettable or undervalued elements of everyday life. No one would think to capture or pay attention to the footsteps of strangers, yet document them, but I think emphasizing the things we don’t pay a lot of energy or attention to can make us more thoughtful and present with our surroundings. In the case of my own documentation of the instantiation of the score, I wanted to highlight our surroundings specifically when taking thoughtless and/or thoughtful photos. In the conduction of my score, I found not only the guesser learning more about their surroundings, but also the person who took the photo. Both parties shared a mutual increased perception of their surroundings they wouldn’t otherwise experience.
Played the score out on a public beach on the cape. The hint was something striped (the chair on the far left)
A friend took this photo at Snell Library and in playing the score, they found their roommate in the background
