Cups + Caregiver (2023)
Paper, houseplant, string, liquid measure, containers
Measurements variable
Performance Score:
“Are we caregivers to the artworks we engage with?
I’ve brought in a houseplant from my home.
I invite you all to participate by taking on the
role of plantsitter by watering this houseplant.
If you will, please take one cup from each container
…
there are spoons that are an exact measure
to fill each cup
…
emptied cups may be placed back in the container”
This artwork has three components - large bowls holding water, two small cups per participant, and a houseplant in need of watering. The large bowls are of a ubiquitous kind, with enough water to drown any plant. The two small cups are variations of an identical design scaled to the palm of a hand, with the two variations resulting from the inner or outer direction of the final three folds. Each cup holds exactly 10ml, with the total amount from 20 participants (40 cups) being just the right amount for the houseplant in a single watering. The score centers the act of transferring water from the water basin to the plant. The scale of the cups and miniscule amount of water each cup contains is intended to emphasize the personal act of transferring the water.
The idea for this artwork did not begin with a houseplant, but a desire to have a group of people circulate a handful of water with a central device like a lighthouse set to follow the water as it circumnavigated the group. Rereading about the Fluxus movement inspired me to discontinue the technology aspect of this scenario in favor of emphasizing a transfer of water that happens regularly in my life - watering my plants. I hope the question at the beginning of the score offers another way of considering the role of a viewer, most often cast as consumer, spectator, or participant in spectacle. There is something in parallel between artworks that are embedded in our daily lives as artists that we occasionally bring into a public space for social engagement and a houseplant brought from a situated existence in my home to a art gallery space to be central in a sculpture/performance.
Copyright © 2023 Pauli Young - All Rights Reserved.