2012-2016
TRT: 11:00
4-channel Video Installation with Sound
9'x 23'

A reflective performative work, filmed at the sustainable community of the same name located in Arizona. In it I use physical (bodily) aural and textual expression as a conduit for exploration of the architect’s creative and personal attempt to integrate natural systems with intentional communal living.
In considering an alternative to the frenetic/wired pace of urban existence, I ventured to this community attracted by its premise, unique building structures, immersion in nature, and isolation from other communities.
The site is something of a relic of the ‘60’s and early 70’s, in which counter-cultural experiments in agriculture and urban living had gained currency. Embedded in counter- cultural idealism, the reality –as well as resistance– to seeing such ideas made manifest in the Western world is continually evolving. Yet it is emergent, and as all structures are built on thoughts, such concepts are continually being re-imagined.
While historically iconic and architecturally influential, Arcosanti’s initial premise –to be a self-sustaining community for up to five thousand people– remains largely theoretical. 
In my time there, a bodily reverence for the site and its playful architecture, coupled with poetic observations about the community experience set against the scenic natural backdrop, inform the textual overlays in the piece.

Made with support from the Wexner Center’s Artist Video Program, Columbus, OH

2008-09

In the summer of 2008, I spent 6 weeks working with rural young people in northern Illinois at an innovative artist's residency, called Blue Sky Project. The residency, which hosted an international consortium of artists,  paired working artists with young people in the creation of new work.

During  my residency we focused our attention on creating  performative pieces that examined 'context'; what  spaces mean, what are the expectations within a space,  how do we feel in these spaces and how could one disrupt these expectations.

We had the use of various commercial spaces and the building and grounds of a local community college.
Young people chose the locations and created their own costumes for certain perfomative experiences.

Blue Sky ran from 2006-2012 and was located initially in Woodstock, Illinois north of Chicago before relocating to Dayton where it was affiliated with the University of Dayton  from  2009-12.


 

2015/16
Users,
Performance, Dixon Place, New York City
Duration: 42:00
Excerpt: 11:00

Writer/Diretor, Mandy Morrison, in collaboration with Lori Greene and Gabriella Dennery

Users is an interdisciplinary performance, that illuminates the perspectives of two women on opposite sides of the cultural divide; one a professional female who works in data analysis, and the other a working-class law enforcement employee in the prison system. Taking into account a specific time frame, this interwoven narrative, examines the experiences of two fictive characters as they move through daily life, reflecting on the past and looking at the present relevant to their circumstances. How they see their place in the world, relative to class and race, is highlighted by a sudden act of violence

2014
100 Days
Duration: 30:00
Performance
Lyons Recreational Site, Staten Island, NY
 
Participants: Angelo, M. Angelas, Terry Bennet, Gabriella Dennery, Rachel Marie Carson, John Foxell, Lori Greene
Artist/Facilitator: Mandy Morrison
Assistant Director/Social Media: Lauren Denitzio
 
 
100 Days, a spoken performance, was conceived to capture a diverse range of perspectives. Ever since Roosevelt pioneered the 100-day concept taking office during the Great Depression, it has been used by the U.S. media,  and scholars as a gauge of political success and activism. In the lives of ordinary people however, 100 days is an arbitrary timeframe that can demarcate either, an incremental changes in the flow of daily life or a dramatic shift in one’s personal landscape through unforeseen events. Through the mining of personal stories, this series of interwoven narratives, illuminates a range of insights taking into account a specific timeframe from each participant’s life, as a point of reference.

The performance was presented on December 7, 2014, and made with the support of the New York State Council on the Arts.

2004
Duration: 10:00 / Dixon Place/Chasama Performance Space, New York City
Performers:
Mandy Morrison
Kelly Kivland
Rebecca Davis
Nora Stevens

Text and Audio Design
Mandy Morrison

Set Design: 
Mathias Neumann

Video Effects:
Jeff Morey

Using the construct of Marie Antoinette' s stance (and purported quote) toward her peasant population, "Let them eat cake!",  I worked with collaborators to generate a multi-media performance loosely based on the facts of her life.

Some of the visuals were derived from 1960's pop culture;   which included a vintage album cover of a woman sitting poised in a cake ("Whipped Cream and Other Delights), as well as tracks ("A Taste of Honey") from the album as background audio. We also used a hair styles and matching waitress costumes to reflect the era.

The dancers perform  as angry waitresses who serve up real cake from from a tier of the Antoinette 'Dress" to audience members, as the cake-sitting 'Marie' quips facetiously about her pesky subordinate 'help'.
The  main character derides all who are below her royal  'station' and at the performance's end, the waitresses turn on their 'Mistress' and attack her with knives and destroying  the cake/dress she sits in.

 

2001-04
Durational Performance
3:00 (excerpt, performance documentation)

Participants
Kelly Kivland
Rebecca Davis
Nora Stevens

And with help from
the University of Minnesota's Art Department

Locations
Downtown Minneapolis (2001)
Cuchifritos Gallery, Essex Street Market, NYC (2004)
Outdoor plaza, Metropolitan Museum of Art (2003)

On three separate occasions, I did a performance piece titled “Initial Public Offering” to arouse questions from a public accustomed to seeing lavish corporate promotions of new products targeting them as potential consumers. I distributed promotional buttons with a logo and query: “Who Decides What Matters?”  The product being pitched to consumers­­–The Co-Dependent Suit– which were two connected orange jump-suits  such as those used in the prison system and maintenance industry- had no tangible use.

My interest was to generate dialogue about the relationship between capitalist output, and the values purportedly represented by such products. 

Originally commissioned  in 2001 by the University of Minnesota's Visiting Artist Program

2013-16
During the winter of 2013-16, I worked at a remote recreation facility for the City of New York. We had a number of youth groups who used our digital facility  to surf the web, and print images of themselves  taken with  cell-phones as well as images of celebrities, downloaded from the web.

As they would often leave cast-off images in the printer I would pick-up what was left behind, and  consider the overlap in our worlds.  I would then combine them with a variety of other images; some from the surrounding local area, and some performative actions. These images are a sample of that experience.