LACA

"Everything, Nothing, Something, Always (Walla!) is a time based installation that takes the form of a one act live theatrical play that loops uninterrupted for three hours and varies slightly with each repetition. The play simultaneously functions as a performance "sculpture" in the center of the gallery space, visible from all angles. Seating is not provided for the viewers, thus instigating constant physical displacement. The medium of the theater has been adopted in a gallery context in order to stage a conversation-cum-argument between five characters who represent various aspects of the artist's psyche. Through spoken language and movement, these representations of the complex self turn the artistic process inside out for the viewer, thus opening it up for examination. The characters on the stage are faced with seated actors who play (a very reactionary) artificial audience. The actual members of the audience are therefore encouraged to question their roles in the space: they watch not only the play, but also another audience watching a play, all the while looking across the gallery and through the play at each other. Embracing artificial caricatures and parody, the script teases out earnest existential dilemmas in the face of artistic production via melodrama, cliche and self reflexivity. The result is simultaneously sincere and ironic, humorous and serious. Clearly considered aesthetic decisions and incessant repetition mark the work as distinct from conventional theater and place it within the realms of the art opening. The work's cyclical character celebrates uncertainty and the undirected gaze and ongoing engagement encourages new meaning to be found with each iteration, note: This video documentation features the final three repetitions of a nine-part loop and was shot during dress rehearsal. It is not to be considered a work of art in and of itself. Everything, Nothing, Something, Always (Walla!) is only complete when it is experienced live in a gallery space with an actual audience. " DVD description, 2014