WE PUT OUR BODIES ON THE ALTAR (2020)
INSTALLATION &
PERFORMANCE ART ACTIVATION
Installation and performance art activation, We Put Our Bodies on the Altar
Sculpture, Projection Art, Audio recordings, Live Performance Art activation; interactive visitor component
Altar with Wheelchair Ramp (Sculpture)
wood, aluminum, galvanized steel, gold eyeliner, found stones, found clubbing clothes (mixed metal chainmail)
12” x 120” x 120”
We Put Our Bodies on the Altar (Projections)
Site-Specific Art Installation
Original digital typography, motion graphics, and video projection, single-channel video projection,
approx 240” x 240”
height variable
4 minutes (Loop)
We Put Our Bodies on the Altar (Audio)
Art Installation
Dual-Channel Audio recording, sound design, mp3 player, headphones
4 minutes (Loop)
Live opening and closing night performance art and poetry by the artist
20 minutes each
Root Division Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Reflections on Exile Group Exhibit
Anna Goodman Herrick’s practice explores embodiment and typography: the physicalized body of narrative.
The work explores ritual, autonomy, connection, and access.
Immersive component: For the duration of the month long exhibit, the installation invited visitors to sit on the sculpture, with instructions and suggestions in the projections of how they might engage with themselves and each other upon the life-size altar.
The sculpture was built to hold over 400 pounds and a working, ADA-compliant wheelchair painted gold and neon pink. The installation includes the artist’s recorded voice narrating the text projections, intertwined with audio design, inviting those who couldn’t see the projections but could hear to access this multidimensional artwork.
The piece presents accessibility built into the work, not an afterthought.
Anna Goodman Herrick, artist, on their sculpture, Altar with Wheelchair Ramp
Component of Anna’s installation, We Put Our Bodies on the Altar
Root Division Gallery, San Francisco (2020)
“Reflections on Exile” Group exhibit,
Altar with Wheelchair Ramp
Sculpture
(Wood, Aluminum, Steel, Saw dust, Textile, Video, Recorded Audio)
12 ft high x 12 ft wide x 8 ft deep
Originally conceived as large format prints, these text-based works, with bold sans serif fonts and saturated colors, subvert pop culture iconography.
The wall-size projections loop, integrated into the installation as a cohesive immersion.
Opening night performance art activation
During the exhibition’s opening, visitors were invited to interact with Anna’s performance art practice and the installation, via installation instructions and prompts.
We Put Our Bodies on the Altar
Time-Based Performance Art
Approx. 20 minutes
time variable
The piece explores embodiment, sovereignty, connection, ritual and access.
Exhibition visitors interact with Anna’s performance art and installation during its opening, an activation with visual and auditory components.
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In this work, audience members volunteer to sit on the life-size altar, and Anna “worships” them, in a choreographed ritual. Elements the artist offered to the altar of pedestaled audience members: stones and branches found in nature. Anna wore all white at the opening and all black at the closing, symbolizing a moon cycle, exploring ritual and nature.
Responses from audience volunteers often included tears and sharing they felt introspection regarding their self-connection and interconnection with others. The performance art asks the questions in the projections, embodied: Who has honored you? Who has sacrificed? What have you sacrificed? What have you honored? What have you offered?
Closing Night Performance, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco
We Put Our Bodies on the Altar
Time-Based Performance Art
Approx. 20 minutes
time variable
Closing Night performance
Anna Goodman Herrick’s practice explores embodiment and typography: the body of narrative.
Originally conceived as large format prints, these text-based works, investigating bold sans serif fonts and saturated colors, subvert pop culture iconography.
Integrated into installation, Anna expanded the series into wall-size projections, which looped.