Clearing

My final piece, Clearing, also underwent an interesting evolution. I was first inspired by a nature documentary I saw a while ago. The link is to a Youtube video of the exact clip that I recalled. In it, a rare bird, the Wilson's Bird of Paradise, goes through it's mating ritual. The male meticulously clears the forest floor, making an area on the ground of bare dirt, eliminating all the surrounding debris and forest litter, then makes his nest in the center and waits for a mate. The females are attracted to the most "clear" clearings and best built nests. This inspired me to do the same in the forest, as I was struck by how much labor the male bird has to go through to completely clear this area deep in the rain forest of Papua New Guinea. Dwelling on this idea, I thought how the bird uses the clearing as a stage for their mating dances and rituals, which are quite beautiful. I thought of how humans court each other, and thought about having a romantic dinner in the clearing. However, this being deep in the woods, the loneliness of the woods started to also inspire me. I decided that my "mate" wouldn't be another person, but nature herself. In this process, I also thought a lot about trees and the old saying "If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, did it really make a noise?" I googled the phrase and it turns out this philosophical question is very significant and there is a lot of scholarship and history on the question. Here is the wikipedia article that gives a fascinating, brief background into some of this thought. It even relates to various forms of Buddhism. These questions focus on human perception and I decided to make these philosophical questions part of my piece, so I included some of them in the letter. Overall, I wanted to make a piece about my connection to the nature and human's place in the world. In the end, after dwelling on many ideas, I created a set of instructions as follows:

CLEARING

1. Create a 6’ x 6’ clearing deep in the woods. Collect some of the displaced debris as evidence. Do not uproot any plants or kill any animals.

2. Bring all necessary supplies to the clearing and have a romantic dinner with the woods. Ask the woods if it had a nice day.

3. Write the woods an apology letter. Tell the woods how sorry you are for having disturbed it. Explain why you made the clearing and what you learned over dinner.

4. Leave a copy of your letter in the clearing and wait for the woods to respond.

Steven Coburn. May 2018.

After creating these instructions, I went to work collecting materials. I went to a local thrift store and bought all the supplies I didn't already own. With the final Live Art Night in mind, I developed this piece to stand alone as an installation. It is still a performance piece, but the installation documents the performance. I wanted it to be visually intriguing and stand alone so I would be able to perform my Bound piece while displaying Clearing. Therefore, I created the letter of apology and explanation to the woods that also served as an informative document for the audience. In it, I outline my intentions and understanding of the piece in the form of a personal letter to the Woods (to whom I refer as a real person). Ultimately, this carefully worded and thoughtfully crafted letter and installation included an artist's easel that held a frame containing the instructions and a copy of the letter I wrote to the Woods. Next to it, was the dinner table exactly as it appeared in the clearing in the woods, complete with table cloth, candlestick, candlestick holder, empty wine bottle, wine glass, antique chair, plate, knife and fork (all dirty from having been eaten on. I ate a grilled cheese but decided to cut it with a fork and knife for effect. For some reason, most people's first question was what I ate for dinner!). All over the table and on a tarp on which the table sat, I scattered the forest litter and debris I collected from making my clearing. Mixed in the leaf litter and debris was actual, human litter. There was a surprising amount in the place I choose deep in the woods. This was sad but moving, and it factored into my piece greatly. There were random pieces of plastic, candy wrappers, bottle caps, beer cans, cigarette butts, and other garbage all on the forest floor. I included these items in my installation. Enjoy the pictures of my installation! I will copy the letter below, but there is also an image of it installed.