Jo Hatlevig and Elizabeth Conlin
November 4, 2016, 4:00pm-8:00pm at Maine College of Art
Egg Timer is a performance of a love affair, friendship and fascination with a material. Spanning a duration of four hours, we give ourselves the indulgence to immerse ourselves in clay, become it, and construct a new environment. We are continuing a conversation with a material that has been a necessity for human survival and produced the oldest of art objects. It connects humanity to its own timeline.
During this piece we make audible the passage of time by use of an egg timer. Each hour the bell rings and the clock is restarted by our hand referencing the human system of timekeeping. We, the performers, respond to the bell changing stance and activity. The clay will respond to our action but also to time passing in its own way.
Clay will crack, bow, explode, crumble, slump, over time; reacting to its environment. We must be aware and in return pander to the whims of the clay. Manipulating us as we manipulate it, enforcing its own timekeeping system through its physicality. We come to understand the nature of the material as we come to understand the materiality of our bodies.
Stop Motion Document of Performance
JO HATLEVIG 