Photo by Juan Carlos Ruiz Vargas of my performance, “Listen, No Speaking, Touch”, as Medusa at Pulqueria los Insurgentes, Cuidad de México, September 6, 2018. This performance was part of The Scarlet Tongue Project/El Proyecto de la Lengua Escarlata.
I have been asked by one of my favorite artists to install a piece of art and to perform during the opening event of a gallery show running the month of November and into December. Please come by, there are some really fabulous artists on the bill and it would be great to catch you at the opening on November 15th:
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Ourselves
An exhibition of transgender and non-binary artists making work about the trans experience
Exhibition: November 5- December 6
Reception: November 15, 5-9pm
University of Rhode Island, Providence
80 Washington St, Providence, RI 02903
Curated by Caleb Cole Artists:
Chai Anstett, Sam Bodian, Ria Brodell, Eli Brown, Caleb Cole, Leah Corbett, Arlo Crateau, Catherine Graffam, Jamezie Helenski, Rob Lorino, Cobi Moules, Lenny Schnier, Austen Shumway, J. Turk, Creature Karin Webb
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The installation and performance I’m bringing to this show is an iteration of the work I started this month in Mexico. I’m excited to bring my work to a third type of venue — from club space, to black box theater, to art gallery!
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“Listen. No Speaking. Touch.”
by Creature Karin Webb
Installation: A small nook area is set up/created with red fabric walls, it is warmly and dimly lit (as possible). Inside the nook there are 2 chairs and a small side table set with roses, a basin of water, with a stack of washcloths nearby. Scattered around the table, chairs, and floor are rose petals. Each petal is marked with a fingerprint of blood from the artist. There is a small swatch of red fabric with thread revealing a number of stitches already stitched in, the needle still attached, is prepared for more. The shape taking form on the fabric is the figure of a person. On the floor, a chalk circle surrounds the space (alternatively this can be taped or painted — whatever works best with the venue’s floor and traffic patterns).
Performance: The artist is dressed in comfortable, casual, sensual clothing. Outside of the circle on the floor, presented toward the audience, the artist places three signs: “Listen”, “No Speaking”, and “Touch”. The artist takes their place within the installation on one of the chairs. There are a few iterations of this performance which include different “offerings”. I am proposing “Washing” for this venue. The water basin and stack of wash cloths are used. Participants who wish to interact with the artist are welcomed non-verbally into the circle to sit in a chair. The entire one-on-one performance within the circle is non-verbally conducted. There is no expectation of what will happen or not happen. The offering to wash or be washed is physically present, though it is the connection between the two participants which is impetus for all action which occurs. This is a study in non-verbal communication, connection, desire, and consent. Performances with each participant vary in length. Each connection the artist makes over the course of the performance while in character (participants, audience members, etc.) is marked as one added stitch to the piece of red cloth. Eventually the form stitched will be stuffed with petals saved from each performance, and as the work continues, stitches of beading will be added until the object is complete.
Statement: I’ve been meditating on this piece of art and performance for a few years, and I began it’s practice in la Cuidad de México on September 6th, 2018. So far I’ve performed and installed this project in two different venues: the Mexican nightclub, “Pulqueria los Insurgentes”, and in a Mexican theater space, “La NaBe foro”. Both of these performances were created in collaboration with artists during an artist retreat as part of The Scarlet Tongue Project. Installation and performance at the University of Rhode Island will be my third venue. I plan to bring this piece to many venues of varying type and size throughout the next few years. Please write me if you have interest in booking this performance, other of my work, or to bring me to your venue as a speaker or educator: Contact
“Listen. No Speaking. Touch.” is a meditation on the artist I’ve become, the human I am presently, and the rules I’ve needed to break or ask permission to explore along the way. Its performance is an invitation for viewers and participants to grow with me, to experience communication non-verbally, to offer, accept, to hold boundaries, and ultimately to risk being present with another human intimately. “Listen. No Speaking. Touch.” elicits recollections of the ways I (and many people) have been marked, whether by society, socialization, or specific people, throughout our histories in ways which disrupt our naïveté and the fairy tale of what connection, love, sex, romance, and friendship are “supposed to” look like. We struggle, in this society, to find our way within a culture which promises personal rights and opportunities, yet enforces repression of individual expressions of identity through violence, non-consensual acts, systematic poverty, refusal to acknowledge the needs of minorities, through institutionalized bigotry, and largely through fear. We are beautiful as we are, marked though we may be. With “Listen. No Speaking. Touch.”, I want to create space for individuals to connect with me, the queer artist, in basic ways which allow curiosity a chance—by way of simple actions and silence we might discover co-creation. “Listen. No Speaking. Touch.” also invites one to explore thoughts and feelings around current discussions of the #MeToo movement. As we practice and/or witness non-verbal negotiation one becomes more attuned to the subtleties of a language which is physical and energetic, and must begin to take responsibility for the ways we are able to “Listen”, to understand the desires and boundaries of the people around us. We are complicit, we are aware, and we must take responsibility for the moments we create with one another, positive, negative, neutral, and complicated.
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Many of the artistic opportunities I engage in, and frequently the ones I believe in the most and want to continue to cultivate, are unpaid events. The work I create that is paid usually doesn’t break even and rarely profits for the materials invested and travel expenditures acquired. I don’t have the luxury to consider time and labor costs for my endeavors: rehearsals, tech time, actual time spent developing, creating, and performing, or installing a piece. I have been a professional storyteller since age 11 and have a degree, a certificate, and an entire year of Master’s work under my belt invested in my performance career, as well as decades of touring, producing, artistic direction, directorship, teaching, and troupe management under my belt. To date I’ve performed in almost all of the States, in four countries, and on two continents.
The reason I do what I do is because I believe in humanity and I believe in the power of an engaged community. I believe culture moves toward meaningful progress and improves conditions for under-privileged people because individuals “do” something to push these important conversations forward. My writing of this blog, the performances I bring to stage, the visual art I create, and the subjects and ways I educate are all part of how I, as an individual and an artist, bring my personal resources to the table to try and effect change. I made a choice early on in my career to work for my own creative brain and to develop a performance/artistic aesthetic and mission of my own, and to speak with my own voice to the audiences I find. Rather than audition for the theater community at large, I believe that as a queer person, as a woman, and a person who comes from and lives in poverty, that my voice is needed in contrast to the straight, white, cis, ableist, middle-to-upper class, patriarchal environment we are governed by and exist within.
If you admire or are inspired by any of the ways that I produce as an artist or educator I ask you to become a patron of mine and contribute to my Patreon campaign. My patrons are the only steady (ish) source of income I have, and they are the reason I’m able to invest in my art further and further as time moves on. I currently make about $450 a month. This is the base pay I live off of, supplemented by whatever other gigs I am able to book, and some months there are very few or none. I would like this base of patronage to grow so I can spend more of my time creating my art, producing, teaching, and performing, and less of my time trying to book paying gigs outside of my primary focus. I publish paid content through my Patreon page six times a month. It’s possible for you to pledge at whatever level you wish and to cap the amount that you pay if you desire to. Any amount helps. Please donate, and please share. Thank you.
Play On My Friends,
~ Creature
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