Shana Moulton's Portable Performance

Is being a performance artist just another job? In this film, artist Shana Moulton rehearses and performs Whispering Pines 7 in the exhibition Acting Out at the Bronx River Art Center. In her 14th floor studio at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace, an artist residency program of repurposed offices located in the heart of Wall Street, Moulton gathers up the essential tools of her trade — costume, wig, makeup, DVD — and takes the long uptown subway trip to the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.

Her first look at the venue, Moulton uses her limited rehearsal time to scale the video projection and adapt her movements to the confines of the space. The performance showcases, in a condensed and portable form, hallmarks of Moulton’s recent work: playfully interacting with fantastical digital animations, unexpected changes in emotional tone, and performing in character as Cynthia—the central protagonist of the ongoing Whispering Pines series. Reflecting on the evening’s performance, Moulton considers her aesthetic ambitions, audience expectations, and the pragmatics of being an artist in New York.

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