Focus
2010
Performer, wood boxes, plaster, fabric, and stage light
This performance juxtaposes two roles of the professional artist. On the one hand, the artist must be present in the public sphere. On the other hand, the artist requires solitude to be creative and productive.
In Focus, a young woman improvises on the violin inside a box. The tone of her music fluctuates between grandiose and sorrowful. Extending from her box is a plaster cast of her face, which cranes toward and is illuminated by a stage light housed in a larger, adjacent box. While the light and plaster-cast face focus intensely on each other, the performer focuses on her music.