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To Kiss on a Battlefield, Act 1

synthesized sweat, aluminum (alloy 6061), microcrystalline wax, 62h sound recording, et al.; performance

March 18th  —  April 16th, 2023

California Institute of the Arts, Santa Clarita, CA

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To Kiss on a Battlefield is a project revolving on the creation and iteration of a ground of formal abandonment.

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"How can something be made (or make itself) while unclaiming capture? How can something, rather than formally assuming some type of relation-ship to its own idea, radically unclaim that connection, working solely as a sacrificial, oblique return system to the very pulse of that idea, in the constant hope to live a life that isn’t death; how can something be a bankside, to a river/field that is continuous, and continuously opening?"
[note to Self, March 14th, 2023]

 

Beginning and grounding through such paradoxical questioning, To Kiss developed as a material, performative, and theoretical methodology of besideness and continuity. One that has found and entrusted its backbone in-to an open material, a fluid medium, the spread: a process and a DIY custom-made semi-liquid solution composed in measured and unmeasured proportions of the chemical components of human sweat, heavily unbalanced in its sodium percentage, crystallizing as it dries, an odorous, reversible slurry, covering surfaces and crevices, turning them into a ground on and from which capture, hold, and release can coexist in a continuous gait.   

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The exhibition and the aftermath of Act I, accompanied by a quasi-aphoristic essai (attempt) in 23 points and modeling notions of Beside Representation, Chunk, and material openness, critique through exposure the contemporary normalcy of embattlement, acknowledging, exposing and relegating trauma (wound) as paradigm so to informally imagine kissing as its inverse.

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This page, in combination with the publication to kiss on a battlefield / act 1 / texts, is an attempt to mediate a project whose nature is deeply, irreducibly experiential.
 

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performances in Act 1 by kayla dobbs, aviana glover, clemente ciarrocca

documentation of Act 1 by yun gi ahn, zoe moon, logan wolfe, clemente ciarrocca

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To Kiss on the Battlefield, Act 1 came to life thanks to the invaluable contributions, support, love and friendship of many, including yun gi ahn, erick benitez, ben borden, alexandria carrion, kayla dobbs, gloria galvez, boz deseo garden, aviana glover, michael ned holte, ak jenkins, chris johst, herry kim, steven lam, wes larios, dhyandra lawson, nick lee, kai-luen liang, francesca loffreda, lena martin, poodle moran, mpa, isabel riedling, naomi sam, julie tolentino, logan wolfe

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