Follow the Receiver

Filed under Ongoing Event, Performance, projects

Artist: Rebecca Nagle

Two people navigating different spaces connect their bodies’ movements through a cell phone conversation. Person A describes their actions (i.e. ‘I am stepping with my Left foot’?) to person B, who reenacts the described movements.

Communication technology creates a dislocation between its users and their immediate spaces. Cell phone users disengage from their surroundings through conversations with people in other spaces. By exaggerating this dislocation, and playfully engaging technology, communication, and space participants will discover new ways of interacting with their surroundings.

Two different people navigating two different spaces connect their bodies’ movements through a cell phone conversation. Person A describes their body’s movements (i.e. ‘I am taking a small step forward with my left foot, I am now placing my left foot on the ground’?) to person B, who then reenacts the described movements. Movement descriptions are given in first person statements. Each statement contains three parts: the body part(s) that is moving (including left or right), movement of that body part (i.e. stepping forward), and what the body part is interacting with (i.e. the ground, a door). Person B does not respond or interact with their space, but only moves according to person A’s description.

The performance will begin with the artist in the gallery reenacting the movements of a partner navigating public spaces in Brooklyn. New partners can join the project by signing up at rebeccanagle.com/followthereceiver. Participants will describe their movements to the artist. As the project proliferates, participants will be linked to each other. The performance space will go beyond New York City; a person in Kansas may be reenacting the movements of a person in Boston. An online map and calendar will track the performance times and places.

You can participate in “Follow the Receiver”!
sign up at www.rebeccanagle.com.
Any one can participate, anywhere, at any time during the festival.
All you need is a cell phone and some free time!