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A Donor Presented by A Saint

Written by Rebecca Lamarre, 01.12.2014
 
Here is A Donor Presented by A Saint, attributed to the Flemish painter Dieric Bouts, a painting I have been using as a focal point to play with different material relationships between artworks and texts, to see what this can and cannot tell us about the people who produce them. As an artist and performer my primary interest is in people, and this puts me at the exact point of tension where it is unclear where a person begins and an object ends.
 
I first noticed the painting because of the hovering hand.  Why is it there? Who does it belong to?  I read the painting’s information card and learned that it was cropped from a larger alter-piece, dismantled during the Calvinist Reformation in Belgium.  Typical of church paintings at the time the tableau would have been an allegorical lesson from the Bible.  The faces of the characters would have been painted by monks in the church’s employ, using faces from members of the community for reference - it was not uncommon to see, for example, the face of the local baker masquerading as one of the three wise-men visiting the baby Jesus.  The more money a patron donated to the church, the more likely their face would be used to depict a more desirable character, like St. Peter guarding the gates to heaven.
 
How does it feel to have someone’s hand resting on your shoulder in that way? How would it feel to see your face painted on the church wall in such intimate proximity to your landlord? Before I read to you I want to try an experiment.  Please form a pair with the person sitting in front or behind you.  The person in the back should put their hand on the shoulder of the person sitting in front.  Please rest your hand on their shoulder and leave it there while I play you a song.
 

Against The Gift Of Interpretation

Written by Rebecca Lamarre, 11.06.2013

I address you all as a friend who has been burdened with the responsibility to speak above others.

I will say to you, my friends, that whoever has ambition to be heard in a crowd must press and squeeze and thrust and climb with indefatigable pains, till he has exalted himself to a certain degree of altitude above them.  To this end, the philosopher’s way, in all ages, has been by erecting certain edifices in the air.

Therefore, towards the just performance of this great work, there exist but three wooden machines for the use of those orators who desire to talk much without interruption. 

These are: the pulpit, the ladder and the stage.

After conversing with Jonathan Swift, I have chosen, in order to emphasize my minor short comings so that you will not notice my larger ones, to employ the use of all three of these wooden machines; the lectern being the secular cousin of the pulpit.  The purpose of this activity is to both elaborate and enact what I am calling a practice of reading.

[take out ladder and stand on it behind lectern]

 

King Yunan and the Sage Duban

Written by Rebecca Lamarre, 28.11.2012
The Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban
 
Once upon a time, a King called Yunan reigned over a city in Persia. He was a powerful and wealthy ruler, who had armies and guards and allies of all nations of men; but his body was afflicted with a leprosy which philosophers and men of science failed to heal. He drank potions and he swallowed powders, but naught did him good and no physician was able to procure him a cure.
At last there came to his city a mighty healer of men, the sage Duban. This man was a reader of books, Greek, Persian, Roman, Arabian, and Syrian; he was skilled in astronomy and the wisdom of the ancients; conversant with the virtues of every plant, grass and herb, as well as philosophy and the whole range of medical science.
Now this physician had heard of the King's malady and all the bodily sufferings with which Allah had smitten him and how all the doctors and wise men had failed to heal him. Upon this he sat up through the night in deep thought and, when the dawn broke he donned his handsomest dress and betook himself to King Yunan, kissing the ground before him. He called down blessings on the King, saying:

Act Quickly, Make Your God Happy

Written by Rebecca Lamarre, 15.09.2012

Over the last year my artistic practice has involved inserting myself into various artistic and institutional settings, performing the role of a therapist by taking participants to a separate room and asking them to describe the sensations they experience in their body. The question is simple enough, and when repeated and answered thoughtfully both the person asking and answering the question can enter quickly into a trance-like state. The activity is derived from a therapeutic practice called Self Regulation Therapy (SRT), a technique used in the treatment of anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I made many attempts to render the activity visible, to exhibit it. In my various efforts I encountered a number of sub-texts, which for an activity primarily concerned with language’s effects on the body, makes a great deal of sense both linguistically and practically. I am continually surprised by the degree of overlap between linguistic, physical and emotional experience, things that are generally thought to function independently of one another.

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