15%

Today me and Amy Lynch attended the Oliver Herring Task performance at the Seattle Public Library's Central Branch. I was interested in observing how Herring maintained control of the performance, considering the tasks were acted out by a group of 35 volunteers, and how as an audience we are allowed to experience the work.

Unfortunately, all we were was confused. There was all kinds of trash everywhere, and not a lot specifically happening. We didn't know what the tasks were, or if anyone was doing them. The girl in the yellow dress was telling someone "not to tear down the fort", while an older women tried to get someone to help her figure out how to use a c-d player, which after it was figured out, started to play whimsical-french-circus sounding music. At that time, another group started playing four-square. And no, besides for the four-square and the music (minus the c-d player troubles), I don't think any of the above mentioned were specifically planned out. I started to wonder about the lines between people watching and performance, and to figure out what it was that I was doing. 

Before we left, the group came together and sung happy birthday to the seated man in the white shirt (Oliver Harring is the one on the far left holding the video camera.)  Overall, while interesting, I felt that the only people who could really enjoy it were the ones performing. Everything looked like it was a lot of fun, but all we could do was look at it from the other side of an atrium, like a zoo, with paper and all kinds of strange debris strewn everywhere. I am happy to have seen the work and to have learned somethings about performance, but honestly, I can't say what I really felt about it, good or bad.