By presenting readymade objects that can be purchased through corporate monopolies including Amazon, Walmart, and the like, I will interact with these designed objects through performance to illustrate how design has been wielded to disconnect people from themselves, others, and their environment. Contemporary products are marketed to support smartphone usage concurrently with resting and exercise as an activity to multitask while working. The human condition has shifted to anxiety, alienation, and overwhelm not only through socio-economic and socio-political strife in America but also through design. Industrial design has oriented our bodies and minds around device time, work, and the ceaseless urge to distract oneself from the task at hand, especially given that taking breaks has nearly escaped the realm of normalcy.

In the following proposed performance, I will engage with the readymade objects and perform the distraction-oriented design advertised by the object and its associated product image and description to illustrate the ungrounded mania that is the current model of everyday life in the West. The series of performances will exemplify how designed objects choreograph our bodies.

Viewers will witness me working on a laptop while running on a treadmill, laying face down on a chaise lounger scrolling my phone, amidst other object-based performances that physically enact the still images used to advertise and sell the products. Adjacent to each readymade object will be a set of instructions for audience members to engage/perform with the objects if they so choose following my performance. The instructions include an image from the product listing, instructions outlining what the object is for and how to engage with it, and a corresponding illustration depicting how to use the objects. The format of instructions mimics the instructions and operational images found on exercise equipment in the gym (these instructional images will be made by Joey Enriquez). I foresee these directions being hung on the side of pedestals or walls using command hanging strips to avoid wall repair and meet the time allotment for the performance.

The performance and collection of objects collectively will create a level of awareness that we are being designed and manipulated into having lives that look and feel this way- out of control and overwhelming. In essence, we can pivot and reframe our lives whenever we choose. We must however first become aware of the life hacks and quick fixes that keep directing us into being reduced to work executors and data farms for corporations.

Following the performance, viewers will be invited to the back of the space where seats have been laid out in advance, to discuss the performance and unpack the viewer’s experiences and connections. Through the collective unpacking of the insidious nature of design to breed distraction, the exchange of performance and conversation will be a connection point opportunity. By analyzing design, performance, and everyday life together, we can forge a community awareness and reshape our lives through future decision-making to privilege our needs for connection.

The performance will include:

-Waking up to a phone alarm and scrolling my phone

-Wearing a phone wearable design to document a live video of my pov

-Walking on a treadmill to pov landscape walking scenery and texting

-Running on a treadmill working/typing on my laptop

-Scrolling my phone in a face-down chaise lounge chair

-Stripping off my clothes (to a nude leotard) to simulate taking a shower while continually using my devices with a device shower curtain/ maintaining a video call

Product Images and Links: