Performed with Michael Lanham and Steele Howell
as part of Nic Brannen’s “The Kitchen Table”
Nic Brannen invited 22 artists to create work based on the 22 Major Arcana of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck for zir thesis, “The Kitchen Table.” It was quickly apparent that I wanted to perform as The Wheel of Fortune.
I wanted to make something fun that illustrated the card and got people excited about the symbolism on the card. It’s got images taken from everything from ancient Egypt to Christianity to Judaism to medieval alchemy to ancient Greek/Rome.
Though she’s not on the card, I portrayed Fortuna, the blind spinner of the wheel who picks no sides but calls the shots. Michael and Steele were mankind, vying for the good seat at the table (wheel) but ultimately powerless.
The performance was heavily influenced by late 80s/early 90s aesthetics, borrowing from the Wheel of Fortune game show and multiple pop hits of the era. The sound was cued on a CD player.
Multiple layers of chance dictated the performance and the actions I compelled them to take. I rolled a die to select pages from a book, dictating which evangelist they would embody (seen in the corners of the card as an ox, man, eagle, and lion). As the actors rotated around the table in an increasingly vicious game of musical chairs, my chickens selected element cards. I performed a corresponding song (eg. for Air–”In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins). The actors ate the corresponding food (or non-food), making as much noise as possible into their close mic (eg. for Earth–rock candy on the good fortune side, and dirt/sticks on the bad).
At the end, the actors each ate the end of the same rope while I transformed into the Sphinx at the top of the wheel.
