Performance Art
"[Performance] is everything. It is enigmatic and indefinable, yet it's here."
I’m a paragraph. Double click me or click Edit Text, it's easy.
-Jeremy Swanton
The Voice in Performance
May 3rd, 2017
An evening of solo and ensemble performances that experiment with the voice as a malleable and polymorphous material. For their final performance, students will be working with texts by Roland Barthes, Anne Carson, Adriana Cavarero, Mladen Dolar, Fred Moten, José Esteban Muñoz, and Bernice Johnson Reagon.
Written and Performed by: Jeremy Swanton, Shannen Burton, & Bella Rivera
Clip of Performance
"jeremy:deconstructed"
As part of the BA in Performance Studies Curriculum at NYU, each student is required to complete a "Capstone Project. This project or paper builds off of the ideas that student has explored in the program with the goal of extending, refining, and further developing it in order to synthesize what they have learned, as well as further hone their research, analysis, and writing skills.
"jeremy:deconstructed" was Jeremy's Capstone Project. Looking at Performance Studies theorists and performance artists Jeremy created an immersive theatrical exhibition of a life deconstructed. Using critical theory, Jeremy created a series of eight different performance pieces all relating to the performance of everyday life.
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Jeremy is a part of the inaugural class of BA Students to graduate from the Department of Performance Studies at NYU.
The focus of Jeremy's studies lie in the analysis of the performance of everyday life. Jeremy's work plays with the limitations of words and the formation of identity structures throughout time and language.
"Frieda DeGeneris"-
A table is set for dinner in the middle of the room. The participant is asked to sit down. Once they sit down, they are to listen to the CD in front of them while following along in one of the scripts at the table. Using the vocal technique of Anna Deavere Smith, Jeremy re-performs a word-for-word transcription of an argument he had with his family on the CD. Jeremy embodies each member's exact vocal performances and words.
Artist/Theorists Examined: Anna Deavere Smith & Judy Chicago
"A Heart Grown Fonder"-
A re-telling of my long-distance relationship and its development throughout time. This is through the use of different mediums at different stages.
Part 1: "Correspondence"- The participant is instructed to think of the person they love more than anything in the world. Once they have done that they are supposed to write that person a letter but do not write their name at the top of the letter, instead they are supposed to write the name of Jeremy's actual partner. After this is done, they are to find Jeremy's partner who is in the room with them and give them the letter they have written.
Part 2: "History"- The participant is given two phones. They are instructed to listen to old voicemails the partner left Jeremy during the same time period as the "Screen-Shot" section. On the iPhone 4, the participant is instructed to scroll through and read all of the texts that the couple ever had together. This timeline starts at the start of their friendship in 2012 and ended just before the start of their romantic relationship.
Part 3: "Screen-Shot"- On the computer, the participant scrolls through the curated screenshots from the first six months of Jeremy's relationship. These screenshots include screenshots of text messages, emails and facebook posts, memes, pictures, and other digital images all from that time.
Artist/Theorists Examined: Sherie Turkle, Barbara Browning, & Rob Horning
Video Tour
Highlights
"A Mile in My Shoes"
In this three step process, the audience has the opportunity to "become Jeremy" for a few minutes.
Step 1: There is a table lined with Jeremy's clothes, shoes, and accessories. The participant must first assemble their costume.
Step 2: The participant must enter into the changing tent and put on the full costume that they have assembled.
Step 3: The participant must choose one of the masks and interact as "Jeremy" for the remainder of the time in the costume.
Artist/Theorists Examined: Erving Goffman