#protagonism socialperformanceart discursiveart performanceasresearch theaterastheory panoplylab estherneff kaiagilje selfhood

[estherneff]

Process for PROTAGONISM performed by PPL (Esther Neff and Kaia Gilje) at Diane Dwyer’s space/home Cloying Parlor (alongside processes/gestures by Nabeela Vega and Kuldeep Signh that same evening).  SCORE/PROCESS:  Individuals are invited into a small booth and asked a single question from a red envelope about their “core selves.” One performer takes notes on what they say. The individual is then asked to write a question for the next interviewee that will help inquire into that person’s “core self” (this question is put into a red envelope for the next participant). Meanwhile, the other performer is interviewing all present at the gathering about the individual in the booth and taking notes. The two performers then convene to combine their notes on to a single circular diagram. Then, the individual is given a choice to read or burn (in a fire outside) their diagram-interview. Each individual participant also received a small, cast-brass lobster.  Four interviewees (above) let us document them reading what their friends, lovers, and members of their community present at the event said about them synthesized with what they said about themselves (thank you Image, Jill, Oya, Brian). 

This process was the very first in a research project involving self-construction and “knowing” the self and others, seeing selves (”our” selves and others) as protagonists within narratives, negotiating public/private and internal/external boundaries, and teasing out social construction of meaningful persona(s), im-personations, and selving processes.