things i collected as documents.

I was collecting things from the environment and things that observers willingly gave me as proofs that they were there. (also, i asked people with cameras to take pictures of the performance, but didn't observe whether they did or not.)

I wanted to document the sense of taste/digestion through found objects. I interpreted the sense of taste as being related more to a process by which one makes choices than what is perceived by the tongue. I digested the objects by bringing them into the body of the performance, into our parasitic organism and morespecifically into the folds of my own body as the stomach of our parasite.

Things I collected myself (not from other people) were always collected from the right-hand side. If you are retracing my steps, you know that if you are headed towards or away from the pier, you will find the matching elements on your right-hand-side. I stuffed things in my pockets, i tried to some extent to maintain some chronological order for my own choices, but in the end everything was piled together, in layers with snow as a digestive element, seeping into each item, soaking it and breaking it down, mixing trace elements from each into every item.

This sheet of paper I collected from the security guards at the entrance to the school. It's the first thing I collected, a record keeping device meant to track the entrance and exit of bodies at the boundary of the school (actually, this did come from the left hand side, i made the right-hand rule after we got outside)















On the way away from the school, I took a handful from a planter to my right, beside Subway Sandwich, on the north/east corner of Hollis and Duke. I liked the texture and colour of the cedar chips with the bits of balsam fir (i think?) and I was thinking that together they would imply a planter or other human-made planting area. also, the chips are always so much more visible in winter since they're often used to put plants to bed... i may be reaching, but i'm just describing my thought process during the collection process.















I grabbed this piece of caution tape from behind/beside the ferry terminal as we passed it. we did not go up the stairs that were blocked off by the rest of this tape.















when we finally go to the pier, i wanted something that would pull a lot of it's inherent elements together. i collected this gull dropping using the caution tape. Gulls, obviously = seaside. and i'm sure if you were to break down the sample, you'd find out just how filthy the water is, what this gull has been eating from the water and from the surrounding restaurants.















I stood for a while on the pier, holding snow, finding out what we meant to one another, and what I might mean to the group. how we were operating in this space as a parasite. So far I had been feeding off the environment, but not yet from any thing that was alive at the time of its being consumed. I wanted to fold-in other living beings. we were performing and there were other people taking it in. i thought they should leave something behind. something personal, that had been warmed by their body, been inside their personal folds, pockets, between their fingers, mixed in with other belongings, rubbed up against by whatever else they were carrier to.

The first organism i approached was a couple, a man and a woman, maybe in their early twenties. they were sitting at a safe distance on a bench, casually watching us and the boats, chatting, I think one or both of them was on a break from or had just finished work at a nearby restaurant. They were pleased and intrigued at my approach, I introduced myself in pretty much the way that I would consistently use for the rest of the duration:

"Hi. We're doing an experiment in performance and documentation. I'd like to document your presence (/participation/proximity/...). Do you have anything in your pockets - like pocket lint or some other insignificant thing- that you'd be willing to part with to prove you were here?"

They searched their pockets, looking worried that they might not have anything, looking hopeful that they would. The young woman offered me a toothpick with some pocket lint attached. I thanked them and left immediately holding the toothpick in my hand.















I returned to the pier, toothpick in one hand and stood beside the line of people extending from Rajee who were holding snow and facing the ferry. Tagny ( i think?) brought me some snow. I held it for a while, stuck the toothpick in it and stayed inside the cell re-assimilating, waiting.

I saw another observer diagonally accross from us. he had a big backpack, cargo pants, good quality hiking boots. i broke away from the inside again, moved out to this new body to feed off him. I introduced myself as before. He searched his pockets. He pulled out a clean, folded red handkerchief from his left back pants pocket and offered it to me. "this should prove i was here, i want you to take this". delicious.

I was still holding snow, i held the handkerchief and the toothpick together in a handful of snow and returned to face the ferry, dangling the red cloth so it would be bright in the memories of the ferry passengers leaving for Dartmouth.

[[once again, i have to come back and edit this again later]]