Performance by Andrew Cain in collaboration with Mackey Howe and Jorge Gomez-Gonzalez
Materials used: Nylon Rope, Wooden Dowels, Thai Paper, White Duct Tape, Spiro 2 Pico Projector
In Distress deals with a site that has transformed over the years from a quarry that was reopened during the National Industrial Recovery Act, and then left to decay and waste away not being a feasible site for residential or industrial construction. It became a site for graffiti and partying, as well as a site that became known for sexual and physical violence. In the last ten years has been transformed into an urban wild by a team of volunteers and repurposed as a site where the community collects and retreats from the urban surroundings of the Boston CBD. I choose this site to interact with and collaborate with friends to regain what this site was meant to be turned into, a space of reclamation and redemption from its past. I project an image of a flag upside down, the national sign of a nation in distress, waving in the wind in and out of focus on a kite as a screen displaying how we as a nation are currently having trouble finding ways to exclaim our distress. Communication and hardship surround us and continue to get worse as the pandemic wears on and our political and social struggles as a nation continue to fly in and out of focus on a national and local level. This piece is a conversation about those struggles, and the beauty that happens we can all achieve focus, even when all other elements are pushing and pulling us away from achieving our goals as we mend from social and economic turmoil as a nation.
Caincong 