The artist places two pillows of ice onto a white canvas, sets a timer for 1 hour, and invites members of the audience to lie with her on these pillows of ice. Composed of blue paint, the ice blocks slowly melt under the weight and warmth of those who dare to lie on top of them.
It is a performance that explores the beginning, the end, and the space between: shared experience. Particularly, shared experience that leads one to explore and question distinctions between pain, relief, and numbness, due to the use of the artwork’s primary material: ice.
By the performance’s end, the canvas bears the traces of all those who accepted the artist’s invitation.
Ice is of particular interest to the artist for it provides opportunity for, and ensures an experience in varying sensations. The most prominent perhaps being pain, when the skin touches ice of an extended period of time. The moments of rest on ice pillows become tied to the dual sensations of pain, relief, and numbness, and invite a questioning as to how such sensations can be distinguished, or co-exist.