Who gets to #workfromhome ?
BATH TUB OFFICE HOURS started at the beginning of the pandemic.
They were held almost “always occasionally approximately 8:30am often frequently multiple times a week. “
I am a performance based artist living and working in North Adams. When the pandemic hit, like everyone else, I was left with no job, no unemployment, and unprecedented uncertainty. All of my scheduled performances were canceled. I found myself in a dreamlike state driven by the amygdala and fear; in seeking solace for my ravaged nervous system, I found myself constantly soaking in the bathtub (with a record of 13x in one day). As I watched social media explode into #workfromhome I found myself asking the questions:
who gets the privilege to #workfromhome ?
what does it mean to "work from home"?
what does it look like to “work from home” ?
....for a conceptual performance artist?
“Bath Tub Office Hours” is a live performance series that takes place in my bathtub during inconvenient hours, mostly unannounced. I “work from home” out of the comfort of my bathtub while my lap top camera streams video and audio. I use both Facebook Live and YouTube Live as streaming platforms. These platforms give viewers the option to interact via a chat box. Throughout the performance I utilize my mobile device to watch myself live on the internet, and periodically turn my phone screen towards the laptop camera to create a not quite perfect feedback loop. When I watch myself on the Live streaming platform it exposes issues with latency and the slippage of “Live” as the gaps are revealed in the playback. The looping of the audio and video is a metaphorical reference for fear-based trauma loops, and the way in which brain function is relegating to processing solely through the lower brain, cerebrum.