Description

Two turds speak silently through the soles of their magnetic shoes. They issue a channel of dot matrix printer paper between them. Entering the scene, a one-legged rat with half a turd brain interrupts their channel of communication. Moving back and forth between the turds, the rat stops at each magnet and uses metal hole punches to gnaw through the paper, one layer at a time. Meanwhile, a rainbow-colored yogi, with magnets on her hands and feet, attaches and detaches her body from rainbow-colored metal panels on the walls and floor.

Statement

Part of an ongoing series of works in which I perform as computer bugs, Stick to It! stages a series of connections and disconnections. This performance arose from my realization that the rat in Michel Serres' book, Le Parasite, is none other than a mammalian computer bug. The word "parasite" can refer to biological or social relationships, but in French it also carries the meaning of "static" or "noise." Serres diagrams a situation in which a parasitic rat invades the classical sender/message/receiver diagram from Information Theory. The rat is the figure of noise infecting the channel of communication, unbalancing the seemingly symmetrical relationship between interlocutors.

Originally a live performance, Stick to It! now takes the form of a video. Click here for documentation of the video.