1989-1997
1997
- NO REGRETS, IMELDA
Bronze, Steel, Video and Motor; 5’x13″x12″
The bronze high heel taps as the viewer approaches. On the face of the pedestal are two peepholes, behind which are small video monitors. The monitor on the left displays the viewer’s own feet as they watch the video. The monitor on the right combines footage of the neon sign in the window of the Lusty Lady with images of Dorothy’ ruby red slippers and other various foot and shoe worship footage.
[+] view gallery - 1-800-TELL-ALL
Collaboration with E.G. Crichton and Scott Brookie
We invited viewers to enter the phone booth that served as the interface to 3 prominent second story windows. A voice mail system presented a menu of questions to participants while a surveillance video camera captured their images. Upstairs computers, projectors, and crew created a feedback system whereby participants and their words were randomly projected onto the windows. This piece communicated the New Years’ Eve collective consciousness of Santa Cruz, CA to the viewing public.
[+] view gallery - DINNER PARTY FOR TWO
Table, Chairs w/Vibrators, Video Monitors, Text; 3’x5’x2′
This piece is simultaneously a homage and contemporary criticism of Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party” installation. The place settings are composed of two video monitors situated beneath red Plexiglas. These monitors display female genitalia. Scrolling over these shots is text that locates various women who Judy Chicago neglected to invite to her party. Some of these women include Emma Goldman, Lizzie Borden, Mary Read, Lucille Ball, and Valerie Solanas. Viewers activate vibrators embedding in the chairs when they sit down.
[+] view gallery - ON THE ROAD
Steel, Glass, Speculum, Straw, Video;2’x 10″
This piece is composed of two boxes. The upper box holds a pink mermaid drinking straw encased behind etched glass, warning, “Only Break in Case of Emergency.” The box below holds a speculum. As the viewer gazes into the speculum’s lips they see video footage of the California coastline. The relationship between the boxes is a whimsical one concerning travel, thirst, and possible viewpoints into and out of both nature and the female body.
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1994 – 96
- BEFORE/AFTER
Posters, Slide Projections, Magnetic Words, Text, Napkins
A collaboration with E.G. Crichton. This installation/intervention occurred at the international feminist conference “Transformations,” held at Lancaster University in England. We used the “Before and After” theme to depict change. We created 122 magnetic theoretical buzz words that people could arrange into complex and often humorous identity labels on bathroom stalls. We secretly stamped provocative questions on the underside of the napkins at each table. These questions were revealed during a formal banquet as the diners unfolded their napkins.
- THE PLEASURE WHEEL OF SISYPHUS’S SISTER
Steel, Video and Monitors, Motor; 11’x9’x9’
The continuously turning wheel plays video images on the monitors. These images depict a series of poetic vignettes of discreet pleasures such as pulling off rose petals that become a mouthful of pearls or a long kiss turning into water running through hands. A single staring eye that watches the viewer separates or acts as a book end to each video coupling. This work explores both the physical and virtual sites of pleasure.
[+] view gallery - A TRIBUTE TO ED MOCK
Motorized Video Swings, Interviews, Slide Projections, Costumes, Broadsides
Mock’s former dancers and students asked me to produce this installation to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the San Francisco dancer and choreographer’s untimely death from AIDS. It was located in the San Christina Hotel, Market Street, San Francisco. The triangular space was filled with the reflected light and motion of the city and displayed Mock’s performance artifacts in a ghost-like and ephemeral sculptural installation. His voice and the soundtracks of his performances could be heard throughout.
[+] view gallery - ROCKING RED ROCKING
Motorized Rocking Chairs, Recorded Voices, and Rear Slide Projection
Collaboration with E.G. Crichton. This multi-media installation was sited on the front porch of the UCSC Women’s Center. As the chairs rocked mechanically, taped voices played of women speaking of their hopes, fears, and desires. In the evenings, slides projected through the windows of the house. The images ranged from women’s bodies, to historical photos of suffragettes, to burning flames. During the day people would often sit on the porch and listen to the voices or talk amongst themselves.
[+] view gallery
1993
- LOCATING YOURSELF IN A SEA OF IDENTITY
Wood, Text, Steel, Ores; 6’x8’x8′
Locating Yourself in a Sea of Identity: A Cultural Exercise Machine was located underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, overlooking the East River and into Manhattan. The viewer/participant is invited to row the text circles into any configuration of adjectives, racial descent, gender geographical location that describes who they are or could imagine themselves to be. The multiple configurations of identity echo the multiplicity of people living in NYC. Considering different identities maintains ones cultural fitness.
[+] view gallery
1992
- A PROPER LADY ALWAYS CROSSES HER LEGS WHILE SEATED
Steel, Video, Plexiglass; 7’x2’x2′
A close-up video depicting a series of erotic encounters between two females plays beneath the red Plexiglas seat. One can view this footage by standing up and gazing down or by sitting on the chair itself. The electronic components of this piece are exposed and unprotected, lending an air of danger to the piece. This physical danger compliments the ever present danger of desire.
[+] view gallery - SAFE SEX EXPRESS
Latex Gloves, Dental Dams Text, Projected Images and Sound; 14’x14’x14’
Collaboration with Diane Bonder. This installation was intended to educate women about protection from HIV transmission. Parodying the clothing store, “Limited Express,” we proposed safe sex accessories as a desirable fashion statement. Slides of women modeling safe sex fashions projected between two latex dresses. Latex gloves, condoms, and dental dams were also exhibited. Throughout the show condoms and informative HIV literature for women were available for the viewers to take home..
[+] view gallery
1990
- MY MOTHER HAD A SINGER AND HER MOTHER HAD ONE TOO
Sewing Machines, Wood, Motors; 7’x6’x15
Running under low lights, these sewing machines represent the spectacle of the sweatshop and its relationship to the home. This piece is an investigation into and display of the mechanical means by which women have been able to earn income and create objects of utilitarian pleasure. It also refers to the potentially exploitative environment of the industrial and domestic workplace.
[+] view gallery - TECHNOLOGY IS DREAMING YOU
Steel, Rope Light, Fax Machine; 28” x 32” x 6’
The fax machine is connected to an outside telephone line. This enables anyone to fax any text or images they’d like to the bed. By faxing this work in a museum or gallery, anyone can be an artist. Red rope lights blink continuously, referring to the electric circulatory system of technology. The ubiquitous presence of technology molds our dreams even during sleep.
[+] view gallery
1989
- HOME
Car, Lawn Furniture, Television, Mixed Media; 10’x 7’x 14’
Collaboration with Mags Harries. This piece was shown at the World Trade Center in Boston for a benefit to raise money for a homeless shelter. We proposed using abandoned materials such as a junk car to build alternative living sites for the homeless. This particular car was outfitted with curtains, a T.V. under the hood and a storage rack on top to store one’s sundries.
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