I.

Intro I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. next

The first and most basic task in preparing Variations is to assemble the objects required to realise Patterson’s instructions. On paper, the relationship of this task to the ‘artistic’ work of interpretation and performance seems purely ‘instrumental’, like rehairing a bow or setting up chairs for the audience. But in practice, most objects have to be actively procured, and the score provides minimal context for determining their qualities, functions, and probable source.

Hardware, craft, party favour, book, and magic shops; flea markets; random junk piles on the street; closets and kitchens; and the giveaway table in an old East German cafeteria have all been my ‘instrument shops’. The roles, meanings, and ideal qualities of objects have often emerged through my interactions with such locales and their unexpected offerings.

One such case is the world map in ‘Variation I’. For my 2009 and 2014 performances, I used a modern National Geographic map of the earth that had previously been hanging in my hallway. ‘World = Planet Earth’ was my common-sensical interpretation. I might have used this map forever, had I not encountered a map of Pomerania in a stack of free books at the aforementioned cafeteria in the former East German town of Jena shortly before a 2015 performance. Unfamiliar with the geography and history of Pomerania,¹ I opened the map and was surprised to see Berlin at the lower margin of the area represented. (Most modern regional maps of northeastern Germany feature Berlin prominently.) I was charmed by this marginality; the idea of Berlin, where I would perform the piece, sitting on the edge of ‘the world’ seemed a poetic fit to the context in which I would perform the piece, a Fluxus festival at a state opera house — another ‘edge’ of another ‘world’. This joke was likely lost on the audience in the performance, but it propelled the performance forth all the same. Perhaps this is ‘the personal value’ that Patterson underlines, which in this instance happened before, rather than during or after, the action onstage.

Iron your favorite flag.