RAIN or SHINE

(2013 / installation performance)

 

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On May 29, 2013, Alison Crocetta and Yurie Umamoto performed RAIN or SHINE from 18:00 until sunset at the Agora Collective in Berlin, Germany as part of the Month of Performance Art Berlin. This durational performance was a direct response to the architecture and community that comprised the Agora Collective. The main gallery of the collective was located on the fifth floor of the building that was covered in wisteria vine. French windows lined two sides of the gallery space and opened to the ground level courtyards below on either side of the building. The performers each stood on wooden palettes under makeshift umbrellas that were positioned in each courtyard. At the start of the action, the performers positioned themselves on the palette and became the literal anchor for a sculpture that was five stories above them in the Agora gallery when clothesline rigging was attached to their shoes. The performers proceeded to pull on the rigging for the duration of the performance, thus making the installation of sheets on a clothesline in the gallery above structurally possible. The two performers were working in tandem with one another but never could actually see one another as they were on opposite sides of the building. To underscore this lack of sight line, the performers also had their eyes closed for the duration of the action. During the entire performance they each sang the tune Row, Row, Row Your Boat in rounds through a paper megaphone that was tied to their head. This sonic element could be heard by audience on the ground but most importantly, in the gallery above, when the sound would drift up through the windows and fill the gallery in a stereophonic soundscape that mirrored the action below.

 

 

Concept/Creation/Performance: Alison Crocetta & Yurie Umamoto

With the support of: the Agora Collective

 

Presented at the Agora Collective as apart of the Month of Performance Art Berlin (2013)

 

 

Photos: Paula Faraco