In-Betweening
In-Betweening
Performative listening walk
2021
In-betweening was an animated listening tour about the tenderness of insecurity. Written text and imagery, drawn onto sheets of fabric which hung from my shoulders, guided participants through a reckoning about the constant state of change of everything. We walked silently around the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago, including through a Whole Foods, and ended at the lake.
Each line below was visible on my back for the duration of walking one city block.
Starting at Roman Susan gallery:
maybe you are something like this
(image of a straight line)
sounds move fragile and flexible parts of our bodies
so maybe you are now something like this
(image of a slightly wiggly line)
this was a birch forest
the sameness of chain stores makes me depressed
but a target in baltimore once made me miss chicago
listen to metal, brick, concrete, and glass
as if they were soft before
people have lived here for thousands of years
people forced people to leave their homes
people are forcing people to leave their homes
maybe fury, grief, and numbness
all look like this
(image of a line breaking apart)
what moves through you? how does it move?
this used to be a burning peat bog
now, people shit into water
the other day i made a toilet overflow onto the floor
there was no plunger
a plumber on the internet said to wrap a brush in a bag and penetrate the toilet hole repeatedly
it worked, but my turd got destroyed
it looked like this
(image of lines breaking apart)
listen as if everything is fluid
and temporary
it was louder when the glaciers were melting
people force people to work in life-threatening conditions
while selling products that are supposedly ethically produced
i used to not buy things here, but now i sometimes do
(image of many fractured lines)
After entering Whole Foods:
this used to be a birch forest
this used to be a burning peat bog
this will rot
After exiting Whole Foods:
btw, i got dumped in may
by the person i dumped at the start of the pandemic
the difference between the first time we dated
and the second time
makes me sting and writhe
what has changed that makes you sting and writhe?
listen as if everything
is trying to protect its softness
(image of many broken lines)
the consistency of the sun and moon
used to give me a sense of security
until i learned the sun moves one micrometer further every year
which honestly doesn't bother me
but the moon gets 1.48 inches further every year
which is the speed our fingernails grow
(image of broken lines regrouping)
maybe it's part of a long-term cycle, though
and our future descendants
who look nothing like us
will gather in groups to discuss how overwhelming it is
that the moon is getting closer
(image of lines moving upward)
(image of lines moving upward and forming something almost like a circle)
(image of lines moving upward and definitely forming a circle)
(image of a circle)
Arriving at the Lake Michigan shoreline:
there is a full moon right now
maybe we can see it
In-betweening was part of Movement Studies, a programming series at Roman Susan that investigates social and environmental transitions.