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PERFORMANCE

IS 

ALIVE

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Set up prior to performance.

Assistance provided by Adrian Pezzengora and Lisa Huber. Documentation by Adrian Pezzengora.

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Official Polaroid from event, taken by curator Quinn Dukes.

Unfolding over the course of 20 minutes,  for the love of god was a performance centered in the artist's experience of the 2020 Iowa derecho- the costliest thunderstorm on record in the history of the United States. At the time of impact, CMM was living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the city hit hardest by the storm.

As CMM walked slowly around the outermost ring of sand, she chanted: "I believe that we will change, I believe that we will change, I believe that we will change; yet I am afraid, and I agonize." This phrase was accented by making direct eye contact with individuals in the audience, holding them in distress with her. 

Ambient storm sounds played over a speaker, punctuated by a fuzzy news broadcast that aired on the day of the derecho. Over the whirring of tornado sirens and rainfall that CMM had recorded, the news station updates the audience of the impending winds and damage headed for Cedar Rapids. Amidst this, CMM lifts an antique water jug. She continues her chant, shifting the "we" to "I"- "I believe that I will change." She walked the perimeter of the sand ring, flooding the space with water and dissolving clear lines in the space. Once empty, the jug is set down where it was picked up, and she repeats the cycle with the other two containers. The artist slips back and forth between "we" and "I" in correspondence to the jug in her hands. The performance ended when all the water jugs lay empty, sirens whirring over the speaker.

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