The funds will be used to advance the project I developed during my Bresler Residency at VisArts. During the residency, I created a series of provisions for buoyancy made from materials salvaged locally in dumpsters, dumpsites, etc., and used these devices as props for performance actions in Washington, D.C. The project I’m proposing to pitch at F.E.A.S.T., involves my using the provisions created during my residency to perform actions in D.C.’s sister cities: Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. I intend to do one 8 hour performance action in each of these cities and–given I have a wide enough network in Baltimore–a second in Baltimore where I will invite people to participate by walking with me for 1-2 hours, carrying readymade provisions through an area threatened by rising sea levels.
Finally, this project directly addresses the theme of Future Framers: Envisioning 2040, as it aims to put into perspective how water levels will change as a result of climate change. And through these performance actions, the project aims to engage the community members who live, work and enjoy these cities, while also extending the work beyond the local level, through the documentation process, thus inspiring people all over the nation and world to consider how sea level rise could impact their locals.
Visit Katie Kehoe’s Blog
www.provisionsforbuoyancy.blogspot.com
Kehoe is working with locally salvaged materials to make a series of nautically themed mock survival devices. Once complete, she will activate these “survival devices” in publicly accessible locations, using them as props and catalysts for interacting with the public. This process is being documented through a blog entitled Provisions for Buoyancy.
Kehoe’s performance actions will be conducted away from water and when possible, performed in densely populated places where, if the sea level were to rise by a given amount, the site would become flooded, such as with low lying sectors of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD.
Kehoe will also produce a series of drawings that reflect projected changes to local waterways, should sea levels rise. “I envision these to be drawn in a visual language inspired by topographical maps and composed of multiple repetitions of the word AND,” Kehoe says.
Quote from Susan “An inventory of boogie boards, a rescue ring, a shack raft, and lifesaving vests is growing in Katie Kehoe’s studio at VisArts. Along with transforming raw materials into sea-worthy flotation devices, she is starting conversations. Her work addresses big issues — sustainability, shifting shorelines, rising sea levels — but she encourages discussions by gently disrupting the ordinary and generously including everyone. She is an artist for the 21st century.”
Katie Kehoe (Born in 1979, Canada, currently living in Toronto, Canada) predominantly works in performance, installation and drawing, and often incorporate duration, site-specificity, photography and video as defining artistic elements. She completed her M.F.A. at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, Maryland (2011); and formerly completed the Canadian Film Center Media Lab’s Interactive Art and Entertainment Program, Toronto, Canada (2007); and earned a B.A. Honors from Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada (2002). Kehoe’s work has been presented across Canada and the U.S. and widely reviewed by critics such as Gary Michael Dault (Canada’s leading art critic), Becky Hunter in Art Papers Magazine and Eames Armstrong in Performa Magazine.
In the vein of Darren O’Donnell’s Social Acupuncture, Jon Rubin’s Contextual Practices, and the infamous Marina Abramovic’s The Artist Is Present, Kehoe’s focus is an exploration of how performance art translates into a social practice.
Kehoe spent more than a year carrying a fishing rod and wearing rubber boots in Baltimore, MD, in One Year and Twenty-Four Days of Fishing (2010-11). A recognizable figure around the city, Kehoe used these ‘absurd objects’ as a catalyst for interaction with her audience. “A lot of people just want to be heard,” Kehoe said of the experience, “The fishing rod was an incredible device to actuate discussion.”
In PIER/PLATFORMS, Kehoe launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund construction materials for installations throughout the Southwest. Kehoe salvaged materials and built a pier in multiple locations including desert landscapes, tourist destinations like the Prada Marfa Store in Marfa, Texas, and art galleries in San Antonio and Denver. Her trip was chronicled through a blog.
An M.F.A. graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, Kehoe’s work has been presented across Canada and the U.S. and widely reviewed by critics such as Gary Michael Dault (Canada’s leading art critic), Becky Hunter in Art Papers Magazine and Eames Armstrong in Performa Magazine. She predominantly works in performance, installation and drawing, and often incorporates duration, site-specificity, photography and video as defining artistic elements.