Instrucciones para besar la pared
Media: Performance, Installation, Video
Year: 2013
Research:
A form of writing, a
dance, a map of love made with the body and the mouth. A mark, a repeated and
constant stamp. Many different ways of kissing, with an open mouth, with the
mouth closed, dragging the mouth; blurry, faint kisses on top of one another.
The image, an accumulation of kisses built slowly and progressively. A
sustained action made live. Visualizing the presence of the attempt, observing accumulated
fatigue. The wall will be a silent witness.
Process:
This action starts with
a request to acquaintances to write instructions to kiss a wall. I gather
that material and I ask friends/colleagues to read those instructions to me for
two hours. I realize that I have to be more specific in my request for
writing. Many actions become too abstract, difficult to translate into a
physical action. I try again and ask them to send me more actions. I once
again edit the material I received and make a new version, a fresh reading, a
new rehearsal. In this material, I am alone kissing and then erasing what I did.
Erasing is another action in itself, I do it with CIF Cream, but rather than
erasing, I unveil the flaw. Erasing a mark creates another one.
I decide to take this
action to a bigger collective action, one that lasts longer. With the writings
of others, I put together my own version of “Instructions to Kiss the Wall” and
I get about 25 instructions. I record them one by one, and with the random
version provided by a computer program I create 4 different lists of
instructions. They all share in common that they last one hour. I rehearse with
the 13 people working on the project, 3 men and 10 women. I ask for their
opinion about the instructions they receive from the recording. They point out
that the time between one action and the other should be longer; also the
variations of the levels of approaching the wall, kisses are usually higher
than lower; and some other doubts. I work again on these instructions and with
that final version I run the exhibition.
A live action:
for two hours, every Friday of the month, 13 people will kiss the wall by
following recorded instructions. There are available recordings for those
willing to participate. Three Fridays they kiss the wall and the last Friday
they erase the accumulated kisses with CIF Cream. On the opposite wall, there
are two videos showing a solo of the same action: kissing in one video and
erasing in the other.
Currently, I continue working
on this project.
