Menu
On Gun Violence, Play, and Repetition
This performance responds to the epidemic of mass shootings in the United States by transforming a space of play into a site of confrontation. Adults are invited to do as children often do: pick up toy guns, shoot, and pretend to kill. A metronome ticks, holding the tension steady. Silent eye contact is the only instruction. Someone shoots. I fall down. I die. I get back up. They shoot. I die. I get back up. Over and over.
The performance starts in a spotlight, with me standing in the center, surrounded by toy guns and the audience. I take a foam bullet gun, aim it at my head, pull the trigger, and collapse. I reload, aim again, and collapse. Then I stand, turn to the audience, and make eye contact. I wait. Eventually, someone accepts the invitation. They pick up a gun, and the cycle begins.
The ticking metronome becomes a pulse, relentless and indifferent, mirroring the cyclical nature of gun violence. The performance doesn’t have a planned end. It stops when the audience decides it should, but they don’t always know how or when to stop.
Play magnifies the unsettling proximity between innocence and cold bloodededness. What choices does one make? Is watching complicity? What does it feel like to look someone in the eye and pull the trigger?
Photos: Koshi
Mao Livehouse, Shanghai
2018
