Carola Fuchs

 Levels of Engagement – Long Museum

Jared Mimm, Wenting Sun, Francisco Hauss, Carola Fuchs

in collaboration with Aslan Malik

Theme:

There are frames of space in which we unconsciously interact with the world around us.  These frames are naturally established at different heights that correspond to particular body parts and their functions.  We engage with food from the height of our torso to the area of our mouth. At torso level, the frame of space is wider. Think of the field of space in which we reach for food at the dinner table, while the frame shrinks down to a narrow path the closer we move the food to the proximity of our mouth.  An untied shoe requires us to look down and either bend over or crouch down to a lower level to get the task done.  We rarely, if ever, hold our food behind our back, or tie our shoes above our head.

Levels of Engagement is an interactive, cross-disciplinary performance that encourages the audience to view the action within, at different heights and different size frames. The two-fold intention is to allow the artists to reveal their identities by exploring unique and unexpected avenues of expression, while also inviting the audience to take an active role, giving a truly unique viewing experience within the typical museum setting. 

This performance is a direct response to the prevalence of mobile phone use.  The glass screen of a phone is a literal frame of interaction that is usually held right in front of the face at a low angle forcing the head to tilt slightly downward for innumerable amounts of time throughout the day. The miniscule frame of a mobile phone not only limits the physical range of our body, but is also a bleak surrogate for genuine social interaction with all its spontaneous possibilities.

Active inspection and conscious awareness of the spontaneous possibilities that different people can bring to social interactions will be the result of Levels of Engagement.

Structure:

Four artists will present several solo movement performances and group collaborative performances at set intervals over the duration of 40 minutes.  The intervals are set by the changing motion and color of the visuals projected on the wall behind them.  The colorful, flashing projection is the first level of engagement meant to be a familiar element that attracts the viewer, as large moving images evoke cinematic experiences, as well as, commercial advertisements on buildings and billboards, which have become ubiquitous in Shanghai.  

During a solo performance, an artist will occupy the space in front of one of the four glass panels.  They will use rolls of black paper to cover parts of glass panel to create a frame for the viewers to look through and see their individual performance.  The frames can be customized to be high or low, wide or narrow. The fifth glass panel in front of the stairs will always be left uncovered so that the audience can take a peek “behind the scenes.”   

During group collaborative performances all the black paper will be removed from the four glass panels to allow for full unobstructive viewing within the entire space.