Entanglement
a performative durational drawing
I roll out a scroll of drafting vellum. Holding a white pen in each hand, face down on the paper with my arms as far as they can reach, I draw two small circles. Then, I push back on my small kneepad and connect the two circles with a faint graphite line. I repeat these exact actions for as long as I can. The drawing emerges over time, accumulating the connective tissues between the bolder but small circular marks at the end of my arms' length. The title and core idea for the piece come from Quantum Theory’s provable yet inexplicable phenomenon wherein vastly distant subatomic particles somehow are connected to the point that if you alter the spin of one, the other mimics that change instantaneously. Scientists still do not understand how the particles "communicate". Einstein himself called it “spooky action at a distance”. Essentially, everything we are is everything that is. We are all made of the same materials as each other and are connected in ways that are deeper than we can comprehend. Over time, the actions begin to look like prayer. Inscrutable, but obviously intentional, the gesture builds meaning.
This Video is from Black Mountain College {Re}Happening 2012, and depicts a portion of hour 2 through hour 3 (from sunset through dusk) of what resulted in a 5 hour piece.
It has also been performed at Galludet University, DC and in Skagway, Alaska.
Here is the resulting image/residue/accumulation of the performance.
