I Bring You to My Childhood Home
I Bring You to My Childhood Home was a 2-part one-to-one performance practice performed between 2013-2015 in Minneapolis, MN. It was initially premiered as part of the International Home Theatre Festival in 2013.
For part 1, audience members were blindfolded and given a tour of the house I grew up in. Sometimes my parents were present. For part 2, these audience members would in turn give me a blindfolded tour of their own homes or other select, familiar environments. For both parts, the blindfolded guests would never remove their blindfolds even after the tour.
The practice was developed not for the guest but rather for the tour-giver, to "re-see" their own environment through the guest's "eyes" (or lack thereof). By obliging a translation of a "known" space into language, IBY2MCH invited a new gaze upon familiar spaces, leading to discoveries for both myself and audience members during our respective tours. For both part 1 and part 2, this gaze could only be provoked by the blindfolded presence of the guest. Moreover, the care required to navigate the blindfolded guest engendered an unfamiliar way of physically navigating these perhaps overly familiar spaces.
Because of the one-to-one nature of the piece, and because one member was blindfolded at all times, no documentation exists of this practice.
For part 1, audience members were blindfolded and given a tour of the house I grew up in. Sometimes my parents were present. For part 2, these audience members would in turn give me a blindfolded tour of their own homes or other select, familiar environments. For both parts, the blindfolded guests would never remove their blindfolds even after the tour.
The practice was developed not for the guest but rather for the tour-giver, to "re-see" their own environment through the guest's "eyes" (or lack thereof). By obliging a translation of a "known" space into language, IBY2MCH invited a new gaze upon familiar spaces, leading to discoveries for both myself and audience members during our respective tours. For both part 1 and part 2, this gaze could only be provoked by the blindfolded presence of the guest. Moreover, the care required to navigate the blindfolded guest engendered an unfamiliar way of physically navigating these perhaps overly familiar spaces.
Because of the one-to-one nature of the piece, and because one member was blindfolded at all times, no documentation exists of this practice.