Tremendous

Due to the process-based nature of the Session program, this project will undergo constant modifications; the features of this page provide accruing information on the project’s developments.

Kara Hearn will begin 10 weeks of work at Recess. Hearn will complicate the roles of spectator and performer, inviting visitors to play an active part in the construction of a 60-90 minute video. She will also present Tremendous at Tribeca Cinemas.

Under Hearn’s direction, Recess will become the set as well as the production studio for her work. During public hours, Hearn will call upon members of the public to participate as actors or subjects for her video. Upon entering, visitors will have the option to take part in a series of actions at fixed stations. Each station will offer a prescribed activity that may be performed in front of a video camera. Members of the public will also have the option to watch the work at various stages of production and suggest new scenes or scenarios.

Implementing tropes from deadpan comedy and the Theater of the Absurd, the final video will be composed from a variety of sources, blending genres of narrative comedy, drama, and documentary film. The piece will feature material ranging from interviews, reenacted scenes from television and movies, as well as repeated quotidian actions. Hearn’s work often evokes the comically absurd, while quietly approaching serious questions about trauma and valor, feelings of loss and of being lost. At Recess, Hearn will investigate the nature of courage and the loss of control in the face of emotional or physical challenge.

Session invites artists to use Recess’s public platform to combine productive studio space with dynamic exhibition opportunities. Sessions remain open to the public from the first day of the artist’s project through the last, encouraging sustained dialogue between artists and audiences. Due to the process-based nature of Session, projects undergo constant revision and the above proposal is subject to change.