Cards Against Humanity

2017

In the wake of my fathers death I recieved a series of sympathy cards that inspired the described performance

Cards Against Humanity Cards is a short performance in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, describes the creation of a circular hand railing and the implementation of the ideas that the railing represents. The presentation displays a photograph of the circular hand railing (a wooden top supported by Spanish-style metal balusters) in front of whatever building in which the talk is taking place. It is important that the railing is not permanently installed in any one place but, rather, is staged and documented for the purpose of the talk.

The photos that are used at the end of the performance are of hallmark cards that indicate that the speaker’s father has just passed away. The cards having generic depersonalized messages, are vessels of recognition alone. The cards represent not only the ease with which one can communicate condolence but also the ease with which a person might return to their everyday lives after such trauma (or so suggests the theory of the circular hand railing). By distancing oneself from the acute trauma and focusing instead on the possibilities and eventualities embedded in eternity, one can avoid experiencing pain. The performance and the installation that follows (Fish Eating Fish) are meant to ask: if we stoically avoid emotional pain what price will we pay?