Nathalie Elisabeth Brilliant
Performers:
Maria Dawn
Sarah St. Leger
Nathalie Brilliant
Directed by Nathalie Brilliant
Date: November 22nd, 2014
ATA Window Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Concept: The performance piece looks to understand the commercial window space, being that the space is a window space that looks out onto Valencia Street in San Francisco, California. The space itself, serves as a liminal space, a space between the outside and inside. However, it is neither; it is both. It provides a showcase room to advertise a component of the what remains inside.
The performance Maria Dawn, Sarah St. Leger and Nathalie Brilliant did deconstrcted the space. Often a woman mannequin is placed within the window space, sometimes in a sexualized manner, as a means to sell and commodotize the famle figure. The performers challenged this notion by remaining still while allowing hersheys chocolate syrup to drip from their mouths as they remained in placid, mannequin and poised positions. The 3 series of actions presented -- sipping and drooling, walking towards the window and pushing against it with their bodies, and then turning around and bending over all act in ways to challenge the female body as a sexy commodity and engage directly with passery-bys on the street.