You watching me watching You, 2026
Structure: Steel, molton.
Performance: Body, cotton thread, acrylic thread, buttons, beads.
Texten är bara tillgänglig på engelska.
You and I have been practicing for a long time—rehearsing consistently and with determination. Our body gestures form a choreography of learnt behavior: how to sit, speak, walk, laugh, look, and be looked at.
The gaze reinforces this perfected behavior. We watch out not to slip out of the choreography while noticing if others do. Within these gestures, the body becomes something to be endlessly maintained, improved, and monitored. In this repetition, care and control begin to blur and what feels natural or necessary is revealed to be part of the performance. With a screen always within reach, the act no longer ends; visibility follows us everywhere.
This performance questions the dynamics of viewing: who gets to observe, and who becomes visible? Drawing from the structure of the panopticon, the work destabilizes the relationship between watcher and watched, turning attention toward the systems of visibility, discipline, and self-surveillance that shape bodily behavior.
The crocheted garments worn in the performance restrict ordinary bodily functions, limiting the use of the hands, the free movement of the legs, and the recognition of the wearer’s features. Through these restrictions, familiar gestures and behaviors become slowed down and uncomfortable.
Even alone, we continue performing for an invisible gaze; it is second nature.
To slow down is to notice it. To notice it is to ask who these behaviors are really benefiting.
@marydamato0124
maria.del.mar.damato@gmail.com