A participatory performance where I tell people “Walk around the table 2000 times.”

I created a participatory performance as my final project for my degree in Interactive Media Arts from NYU. There were around twelve participants in each of three performances on April 9th, 12th, and 16th of 2024. I talk about the project here.

During the performance, I delivered a series of instructions to the participants.

I started this project by thinking of my experience of going to music and dance concerts that have proscenium style seating. In these spaces, there are many behaviors that I automatically engage in: I know when to enter, I know how I should sit, I know when to be quiet.

For this project, I wanted to see how audiences respond to and participate in a sort of non-performance, or a performance that consists only of the context of a performance (an invitation, a seating arrangement, a small amount of guidance).

During the beginning I repeatedly ask people to leave and enter the room. Then, I ask them,

“Do you know why you chose to sit or stand where you did? If you can’t think of a reason, make up a reason. What would the opposite choice look like? I’ll ask you to leave the room and re-enter and sit, making the opposite choice.”

Then I say,

“There are many forms of opposite. I’ll ask you to leave the room and choose a different form of opposite to re-enter with.”

During the experience, everything someone does is in relation to the (non)actions of the others in the room.

The verbal instructions I gave provided a structure in which people could notice the presence of others in the room and choose to act in relation to the others in the room.

The way people responded to the instructions took different forms, creating tension as some people debated whether they should mimic what others were doing, and this is where the action of the performance lies.

This performance was a way for people to experience what their reaction was to being influenced by my instructions and the actions of the other participants.

Asking people to make the opposite choice twice is a way to get them to engage with specific details about how their choices are in conversation with the position of the other people in the room.

The instructions leave room for interpretation, so people were influenced by each other’s interpretations.

The below video shows what happens when I tell people to “Rearrange the chairs into classic college style seating.”