After much huffing and puffing about family life not allowing any time to make art, we decided to change our thinking about it. We decided to consider all interaction between us as parents and our children as a very long durational performance, and every public art activity as an excerpt of that performance. Now there is plenty of time for art and surprising processes to investigate.
We remain present in the art world, framing excerpts of the family process to conform with the various expectations for art works as texts, installations, performances, workshops, guided tours etc. All family members still do not participate in all of our art activities. But the absence of those who are not there is definitely a part of the work.
Our stories as individuals and as a family are material to explore in art works. One of the first public results of our new thinking, a rather rough and random one, was our performance “(Chosen) Family (Tree) Party” for Cyber Bodies online performance art festival.
With the “Stammbaum” complex, we expand the idea of family as performance to family history. We invite and integrate ghosts from the family past into the long durational process.