In the middle of the floor, which is covered in unearthed grass and dirt, rests an oblong structure with an orb inside. Two artists stand in the middle, on either side of the center sphere, visible only at the feet and through a slit near the top.
This was the stage for “The Transformation,” a two-hour performance art exhibit displayed at The Fuller Projects on Friday.
Linda Tien, co-coordinator of The Fuller Projects, said the performance-heavy piece spoke to them during the application process.
”The fact that it was a collaboration too is interesting,” Tien said. “These two people, they haven’t known each other for long so just a new, fresh pairing of artists was suiting for our space.”
Tien and Katie Garrison, the other co-coordinator, agreed that this piece differed a bit from what they have displayed in the ?before.
“We’ve had other performances but it’s a little more voyeuristic than what we’ve had in the past,” Tien said.
“This isn’t as interactive,” Garrison added.
Grace Nolden, a sophomore fine arts student, said she attended the event as part of a class requirement, though she chose the location because of positive past experience.
“I usually come to Fuller Projects because I think they’re the most interesting and it’s run by grad students so that’s cool and fun to support,” Nolden said.
According to Nolden, this highly sensual exhibit was different from the two she previously attended.
“The first one I went to was really interactive so you had to feed this woman eggs,” Nolden said. “The second one was like my favorite, it was ‘Dear Diary’ and it was all these people’s diaries up on the wall so that one was just looking. This one seems more like a performance, it’s not interactive and it’s not like an exhibit so that was something I’d never seen before.”
Throughout the two-hour exhibition period, the piece experienced many transformations. The two artists ate from the orb in the center, pushed arms or legs out from the structure and even screamed as changes occurred.
Anna Buckner, a first-year master of fine arts student, said during the performance she was constantly engaged with what the huge transformation would be.
“I think it’s really beautiful,” Buckner said. “I’m interested to see how they sustain it for two hours and how it transforms. I didn’t know what to expect, they were pretty vague in the ?description.”
Buckner said she is new to the world of performance art, but she admires the artists’ ability to communicate in such a different way.
“I haven’t seen that many performance pieces so it’s interesting when the artist is using her body to convey an idea and I think she’s doing it pretty well,” Buckner said. “It’s a painful performance to watch I think.”
Buckner went on to further describe the emotion the piece evoked, especially when the two artists interacted with the earth and one another via their feet.
“There’s a sense of anxiety and entrapment but it also feels very sensual, too, actually, like I don’t know if you saw the feet,” Buckner said. “I keep thinking of a womb too, I don’t know why.”
Tien said the piece fell well in line with the goal of the gallery at large.
“The mission of the gallery is for artists to work on things that are experimental to their normal practice,” Tien said. “So it’s a space where they can be free with no risk of doing something crazy or different.”
