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hello my friends my name is laura

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gildner i am a visual artist

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currently residing on the unseated

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territories of the lewandan peoples

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also known as victoria british columbia

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and

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this is me making out with one of my

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favorite songs i thought we might

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might as well start with talk with a

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little pizzazz

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this is kind of where i’m at right now

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in week 11 of the lockdown

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i live alone i know at least some of you

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can relate so here we go we’re going to

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start this with a performance of some

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physical sound manipulation

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and i’m going to come back and talk to

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you about my work

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[Music]

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me

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[Applause]

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[Music]

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[Applause]

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time

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[Music]

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so my practice is very much rooted in

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the performative and

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while sometimes i’m the one performing

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like i am here

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more often than not i’m creating a sort

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of situational design where participants

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in my works

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either perform for the camera with the

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intention of the work becoming a video

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or a video installation or photographic

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series

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or they perform as part of a live event

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that is meant to exist as a specific

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experience unto itself

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what we’re looking at now is

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documentation of one of my first

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participatory live works

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which was a makeshift parade i

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orchestrated in 2017.

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at the time i was playing a lot with

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ideas surrounding the construction of

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the idol in western culture

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thinking about how we ritualize and

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sensationalize our chosen subjects of

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admiration

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through overt and often exaggerated

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performative actions

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i decided i wanted to treat this project

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as a bit of an experiment

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i put out an open call for participants

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so i didn’t know exactly who or how many

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people might show up

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and i chose an arbitrary subject as the

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supposed focus of the parade

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this ended up becoming phil collins

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not the visual artist but the musician

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someone who nobody seemed to have any

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extreme feelings about one way or

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another in 2017 but who had a bit of a

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neutral and nostalgic appeal

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that also communicated some of the humor

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i was looking to touch on in the work

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one thing i’ve been asked multiple times

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since this happened was

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was it his birthday or a significant

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date or something like that

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and the answer of course is no

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this parade was very intentionally

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created to be an if a tree falls in the

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forest scenario

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victoria has been known to be a bit of a

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sleepy town and even though this parade

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happened in the middle of the day on a

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weekend

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we may have gotten a total of about five

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innocent bystanders who witnessed it

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moving through the suburbs

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the parade of course

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was not really about phil collins at all

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but about this temporary community

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the roles they took on

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their specific mix of performative

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excitement

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and awkwardness and how they came

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together to become that community

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throughout the duration of the event

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after the parade i became inspired to

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create more work that specifically

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involved the creation of makeshift

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communities

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and

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since then these projects have formed

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about 90 percent of my overall practice

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in early 2018 i put an open call out

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here in victoria

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for men to come perform in a video work

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that borrowed its structural format

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from that of an audition

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the work was loosely conceived to be a

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moving image taxonomy of an arbitrary

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sampling of males

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and the way this performance unfolded

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was largely based on the dynamic between

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the 10 subjects who showed up to be

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filmed

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this quasi audition began by mirroring

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the expectations of the subjects

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with minimal direction i would ask them

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to stand

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or sit or pose and wait

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but as the shoot were on i began to

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notice how each individual would respond

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to the social cues of one another

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almost like they were waiting for

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permission from each other to try

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something new

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if someone started to perform by

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say running

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i would get the entire group to run and

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see what unfolded from there

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i noticed that unlike my live events

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performing specifically for the camera

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created a whole other level of hyper

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awareness

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in the subjects

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some would instinctively come towards

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the camera as often as possible

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others behaved as if they weren’t being

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filmed

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but knew i was watching

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and others put on

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entirely different personas than their

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typical selves

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for the duration of the shoot

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over time i noticed a collective sort of

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group mentality developing

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everyone seemed to become familiar with

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how the other might respond to their

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performative actions

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and when i thought things were becoming

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too familiar i would ask them to try

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performing a new action

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this continued until a breakdown in

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their performative environment took

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place

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for some it became about outperforming

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the others and for others it became

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about letting go

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or almost letting go of the knowledge

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that they were being watched

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i’ve returned to this idea of an

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audition format to play with how we

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negotiate

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our performative roles in relation to

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ourselves

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to those around us

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and to our awareness of the camera on

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several occasions

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these projects often comment on the

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tradition of performance as

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entertainment

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and can range from creative reimaginings

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of historical events

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to

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sight responsive

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performances to

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mock concerts

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and live events

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to simple meditations on the active

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performance itself

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since we’ve been on lockdown i’ve

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obviously had to put the projects i was

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currently filming

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on hiatus as they involve multiple

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participants in close proximity to one

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another

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this unique time we’re living through

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has made

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me all the more grateful that community

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is such a central element

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to my practice and that i’ve had the

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opportunity

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to have these wonderful experiences

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creating work with so many people

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it’s also made me hyper aware of how

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integrated performance really is in our

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day-to-day lives

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beyond being unable to retract myself

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from watching the performances of our

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political leaders

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on television and noticing

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how celebrities are almost desperately

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trying to remain relevant on social

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media throughout this crisis

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i’ve really been noticing how our

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everyday performative actions have

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become almost magnified in isolation

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on my daily walks i can’t stop noticing

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how folks working out and getting

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creative with their outdoor lawn or park

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or sidewalk workouts have become almost

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like a social weather report

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a barometer of how we’re holding up

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i’ve begun to film and photograph some

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of these folks with their permission of

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course and with a long lens from about

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eight meters away

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as a document of this time

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one for every week we’re on lockdown

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so i can remember what it feels like to

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live in this time when intimate

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connection within our communities

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feels so simultaneously heightened and

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out of reach

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if anything this pause we’re

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experiencing has reinforced at least to

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me

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how significant art is to our well-being

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and to our communities and that when in

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doubt or despair humor might be the best

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medicine of all

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