Project 4: Tangled in Life




My concept for this project was to use string or twine as a metaphor for life. I constantly feel pulled in many different directions with class, sports, social groups, and jobs that it can all get a little stressful. By taking twine and wrapping it around different trees and finally around myself, it represents the entanglement of life. There were times when the twine got knotted up, which was simply by chance, but I liked it because life can also get that way at times. We can't always predict what is going to happen and rarely everything goes exactly as planned.

There are a lot of things I would like to change about this performance.
1) I would like to perform it live and have the audience scattered throughout the trees or in chairs so that they also get tangled up in the twine. This would represent how others and the relationships/connections we have can make life messy.
2) I would use a lot more yarn or twine so that it would take much longer and create a bigger web in the end.
3) The yarn or twine I would use would be brightly colored, probably red, so that it would be easier to see.

Overall, I love the concept I came up with. The execution could have been cleaner, but in a way it fits with the piece because of the whole life metaphor.  This autobiographical piece can be relatable for many, especially college students who feel "strung out" or in a "tangled mess" at times. The time and labor of unknotting life's problems and unpredictable happenings are represented here by simply unraveling twine through trees.

 Life is messy, unpredictable, and sometimes cut too short... just like this performance. 

Residue... I left the twine around the trees so I hope no one gets caught in the web (especially a poor and innocent squirrel).


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