the work is taking shape.

without quite planning to, my interest in allan kaprow’s later works is finding its way into this research: the idea, a suggestion, a task, an activity - the participant performing.

it is also my physical distance. what does it mean to research a common subject with the rest of the guys from here in singapore? how can the research be shared? how can the findings be revealed, questioned, and discussed?

the concept:

1. draft a list of tasks that requires us to understand our individual limits to our boundaries.

2. tweet about it.

yes, tweet about it. but first, the list.

the tasks will involve someone else, sometimes a stranger, sometimes a familiar acquaintance. in these tasks, we try to see how far we can go - not because the other has given us liberty to (all though that is largely what we base our responses on), but through reflection and understanding, recognising the moment in which something in our own selves changes.

as blogged before, i’m talking about simple everyday activities.

eye contact with a person on a train; catching up with someone ahead of you, walk beside them for the rest of the way; touch the person next to you in a crowded train; standing differently from the rest of the people in an elevator…

and then kieran added a few more suggestions:

standing in a crowded place with your eyes closed for a length of time; release an embrace sooner than you otherwise would; telephone somebody you do not want to speak to, remain on the line until they have to go…

and woah! his ideas really shook me. for some reason, i’ve kept my thoughts on the public space and the general public! and here are actually really challenging (to me) tasks because it involves somebody i already know. aren’t some of our boundaries actually so much thicker, and therefore harder to cross and understand when they are less defined?

but as we continue to build the list, i’ve been gathering the players, a most apt name for these peers at this moment for me. that this list will be shared, and each day, we try to complete a task, and perhaps a variation of another the next day and so on and so forth. maybe we will complete all the tasks on the list, maybe we will establish new boundaries that we find easier to manage - but we will definitely understand our limits a little better.

maybe through the tasks, we can provide intimacy. maybe we can provide a provocation to the other, that he too may look at his own boundaries.

but one thing is certain, we are looking for that moment in which something in ourselves changes. the moment we withdrew, or the moment we chose to give more of ourselves. and mostly, why.

but first, we need to do the first series of tests!