I search for tree stumps in New York City. I count the rings
on the cross-sections and record the numbers. I play m.a.s.h. with the numbers.
m.a.s.h. is a children's game not unlike the folded paper fortune teller.
One plays in order to be presented a future scenario. I learned the game
as a young girl conditioned with normative categories such as pet,
number of children, honeymoon location, etc…
Here, I make my categories and choices completely absurd,
ending up with Spongebob Squarepants as a my boss, or
Lindsay Lohan as nemesis... The trees act as indicators for
dispensable pictures for my future. If I am dissatisfied with
the results, I can replace it by finding another stump
and playing another game.
I am giving myself to chance
but within the context of my own constructed system which I also break. It appears that I am giving myself to chance but
with potential results from my very own pool
of references.
The search footage has been shown with or without overlayed sounds of sirens recorded from the traffic just along the entrance to Central Park, where the majority of the stumps were found.
This was shown as a single channel video at a temporary space in Chelsea, sporadically for two weeks with The Brackish Waters collective in March 2007, and again for 2nd Avenue Poetry's reading series in April 2007 at Lolita Bar in The Lower East Side, as an installation with a two channel projection of the game and search, and completed sharpie m.a.s.h. drawings.