Arts
I am a Banana Box
I don't like to complain after such a long cold winter, but it's hard to disagree it's a nasty wet weekend. Like most people, I've spent the weekend hiding indoors. OCAD Integrated Media thesis student Alexandra Hazisavvas, on the other hand, is spending 42 consecutive hours on a muddy baseball field moving from canvas house to canvas house 42 times.
"I am a Banana Box" is a large-scale performance installation piece set up in a in baseball diamond in Sorauren Park. 42 simple wooden frames covered in canvas have been erected and placed in a grid on the diamond to represent the 42 moves that Alexandra has made throughout her life. Beginning at midnight on Friday night, every hour on the hour Alex moves to a new "house" in the grid, taking her few items (a welcome mat, banana box and backpack) with her.
This isn't the kind of event I would have gone out of my way to see, but living less than a block away from the park, I couldn't resist. Installation art is a fascinating medium, something I so rarely see on nights other than Nuit Blanche. I don't know how many times I've moved, but I did this past month and so I'm still recovering from the exhausting experience of packing up and living in an entirely new area. The sheer number of houses on the baseball diamond, and watching Alex move just once, made me appreciate the exhaustion of an unsettled and moving life. She's half way over at this point, she will be at the park until 6PM on Sunday, so stop by and cheer her on.
Discussion
16 Comments
Sort By Oldest First / Newest First
Subscribe
while it might not "capture the essence of moving" i think it does capture the fatigue of not being settled. i saw her in hour 16 of 42 hours and she looked pretty exhausted.
Alex's insallation- it moved me alot for many reasons -i think we'd be smart to keep an eye on her...
O
Each house is 6x7 feet and constructed out of a simple wooden frame covered in unprimed Canvas. Placed in a grid formation the identical de-saturated white houses appear as ghostly structures. ?I am a Banana Box? is a journey exploring identity, isolation and ephemeral spaces. In recovering her past, Alexandra Hazisavvas erects houses like haunting memories reliving each space without attachment.
Everything can seem gimmicky when you only engage with it on the surface level.
....such as???
@piero
yes, you are so bored with this inconsequential work that you posted 5 times about it
rather than inquiring further, you are making judgments based on 1)very little information 2)very little engagement with the piece
the work was not about drudgery, complaining, or anything else you are reading in to it
it was pouring rain, and tons of people in the community were coming out--in the mud, to check it out
to get a better idea about the piece the villager wrote a page interview about it, and it's attracted more attention from the mainstream press than most conceptual performance art in toronto gets
there is a difference between being bold and didactic
Didn't have time though, I was too busy moving.