[BLACKOUT]

With taisha paggett

When the Lights Forgot
Video still from the video element of [BLACKOUT]
A collaboration with taisha paggett, [BLACKOUT] is a sensory installation with a video element and sound, building upon their Par Course projects, which feature choreographic installations that script, prompt and reflect back upon the viewer in order to engage their sensory, physical and political presence. The installation centers on a “black box” — a darkened room set up to mimic a black box theater stage with its lights off, with black felt hanging as wings and stage curtains, which the viewer can explore by touch and feeling as their eyes adjust and their ears tune in to a quiet sound score alternating between the murmur of an audience awaiting a show to begin and people moving through streets. A looping video greets the viewer at the entrance, saturating the eyes with the repeating “when the lights forgot to come on” against a bright, white background, leaving them with an floating afterimage as they enter and seek to make sense of the seemingly empty space.