Jacob Bell and Caitlin Waugh converse about how isolation from the current Covid-19 pandemic has influenced and affected their original performances. 

Taking influences from Artists such as Tehching Hsieh, Antonin Artaud and Augusto Boal, the two discuss how performing the self has been altered in their two contrasting performances and artistic styles. Whilst sharing this as a key aspect of their works, it is interesting to see the pathway each has taken has found itself overlapping.

Originally planning to display the body in an open, yet intimate space, Caitlin Waugh’s exploration of pleasure and comfort in the self and the body had completely changed direction when the pandemic prevented the installation from taking place. Instead she discusses how her performance had to take a new route as she began to explore the idea of performing the self when the only audience could be the self. Connecting the self to ritual and having an awareness of the agency behind one’s own actions became a key focus of this new performance, especially when exploring the necessity behind continuing to perform without an audience.

Jacob Bell’s original piece ‘Our lives in boxes’ would have demonstrated an alternative view on the routine of life. Looking at how and why we decide to put our past memories and physical objects into isolation, alone in a box to be forgotten. The durational piece is described as a “personal meditation for myself, a way of connecting to my past and my present to hopefully find a clearer view on what is to come”. Tehching Hsieh was a key influencer in this development, the personal experience with Hsieh’s own work, and his decisions to keep those emotions and feelings private influenced Bell to take this opportunity in creating a piece of performance art and find a connection with himself.