live performance using a projected Powerpoint presentation, computer-generated spoken word, chocolate cake and water
duration: 1 hr
location: a Georgetown University lecture hall
description: For this performance I created a Powerpoint slideshow of critical theory words and definitions (in A-Z order, one word per slide) taken from the Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory.
images above: screenshots of Powerpoint slides
Dressed in a suit, I stood at the left lectern and read the slide, projected on the screen behind me, to the audience.
image above: live performance still
Next I moved to the right lectern where I had installed a laptop computer with speakers. Using one of the operating system’s pre-loaded female voices, the computer read aloud a paragraph of subjective text I had written in response to the critical theory term on the slide. This text was often politically sensitive, poetic, humorous, and at times naïve and kitschy.
image above: live performance still
As the computer read the text, I sat on a stool next to it where I had positioned multiple pitchers of water and a glass, drinking the water, and eating a slice of chocolate cake, one slice per word. After the computer finished reading the text, I wiped my mouth, and returned to delivering the Powerpoint lecture.
image above: live performance still
These gestures were repeated until the last slide was delivered. As the slideshow went on, and the cake was eaten, I became visibly sick and barely able to sit or stand.
images above: live performance stills
After presenting the last slide, the computer voice read aloud the Preface to the Penguin Dictionary of Critical Theory. As this section of text was delivered, I left the front of the room and walked to the back of the lecture hall where I forced myself to vomit the cake and water into the trash receptacle placed between the lecture hall doors. I then left the lecture hall and the audience continued to sit as the computer read the Preface to the end.