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Tenuous Connections

2019

Stoneware glazed in cone 6 oxidation, thread, epoxy

Tenuous Connections is an interactive performance centring around an experimental dinner set.

The dinner table is a ritualistic space in Western Culture. From elaborate Victorian feasts to the nuclear family table, the sharing of a meal is laden with etiquette, symbolism, and social navigation. Tenuous Connections makes visible the tensions and relationships at play among the people at the table. As a whole or individually, the diners can choose how they act and react to the pulling of their utensils. One can easily snap the thread, either by a decisive pull or a careless motion, but what are the consequences of the break? In the socially scripted setting of the dinner table, the snap of the thread could be amplified into a violent action. Do the diners feel freed by their connective burden? Or do they mourn the physical separation from each other?

The tone of Tenuous Connections shifts with each group of people who come to dine. Whether it is a joyous artwork celebrating community, or a performance weighted with tension depends on who comes, picks up a cup, and brings it to life.

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