video excerpt from performance at Pratt Institute (12/11/11)

Talk To Me

Two performers hand out calling cards to a seated audience as they approach a lit stage. The card lists the performer’s phone numbers and the directions “text me.” The set is a wood table and two opposite facing chairs.

stage 1:
The performers sit with smart phones, face up on the table within reach. They stare at each other and wait for texts from the audience. The first Performer (A) to receive a text speaks the message to the other Performer (B). The performers take turns reading the texts in the order in which they are received.

stage 2:
After about 10 texts are exchanged, Performer B raises a Coca Cola can set at her feet, brings it to the table, and opens it. She drinks instead of reading her incoming texts. Performer A continues to read his texts until Performer B decides to return again to speaking a text message. Performer A opens a can of Pepsi Cola and joins Performer B in a soft drink. Both performers continue the dialogue in a more casual manner than before.

stage 3:
After about 10 texts each, Performer A states, “The iPhone 4 is so much more than an new product.” On this cue, both performers rotate to three-quarters position toward the audience. The performance continues with the binary broken. The texts are now directed into the distance, neither at the other performer nor the audience.

stage 4:
After about 10 more texts are exchanged, Performer B places her phone down and addresses the audience directly, “talk to me.” Performer A also addresses the audience with the “talk to me” appeal. This continues until an audience member speaks in response. Performer A and B stand up in unison, concluding the performance.

What are the modes of existence of this discourse? Where has it been used, how can it circulate, and who can appropriate it for himself? What are the places in it where there is room for possible subjects? Who can assume these various subject functions? And behind all these questions, we would hear hardly anything but the stirring of indifference: What difference does it make who is speaking? - Michel Foucault, "What is an Author?" (1984)