On September 20, 2008 at 1pm and again at 2pm, the artist Tommy Becker Performed a series of participatory instructional poems involving movement with charged stones. In this post you can read my description and reflection on the event, download the audio of Tommy’s performance, read the poems that Tommy read, and read the transcript from an interview between Tommy and I on his work and working practice, which I conducted right prior to his performance. This was the second of six events that I produced as part of A Grass Mound (With Kind Regards to Utopia).

Artist Tommy Becker will perform participatory instructional poetry involving movement with charged stones. Like mantras or hymns the poems will act as concentration aids to enable the audience to focus and unite their existence to the earth and one another through repeated phrases, movements and the artist’s recitation of communal nostalgia. Prior to their arrival at the gallery the stones will have been subjected to a variety of utopian experiences by the artist such as, chantings, blessings, prolonged cuddling and extended exposure to the music of The Beach Boys. Tommy will perform the series of poems twice, once at 1:00pm and a second time at 2:00pm. Wear comfortable shoes and positive thoughts. Audience participation is required.

This is how Tommy and I described his event in the email invites announcing it but despite the ostentatiousness of our description the event was actually quite simple, genuine and even sentimental. Tommy stood on top of the Grass Mound, behind a small guitar speaker with plastic flowers place upon it, with a microphone to amplify his voice, which was run through a voice modulation pedal to alter the pitch of his voice. Tommy presented a series of seven poems which he had written specifically for this event. He projected them with an overhead projector onto a small folding screen placed in the corner to the left of the mound, this allowed him to read with his hands free. Each poem was named after a small exercise routine that accompanied it, as well as collective memories. For example, A poem read with a rock in one hand while you grab the wrist of that hand with your other hand and move it vertically upwards and downwards as you recall quiet elevator rides. Tommy would begin by reading the title of each poem, explain the exercise to the audience and commence to read the entire poem. At certain moments during the reading he would shift his voice with the voice modulator to add emphasis or tension.

I was particularly interested in including Tommy in this project because I wanted to tie together exercise programs, which are based around meditation and transcendence, and poetry as a form of public speech and creative resistance. When planning this project Tommy and I talked a lot about the positive role that art can play as a both a focusing agent and a therapeutic or healing act, one which I think becomes I think even more important in a time of war and suffering. So to further introduce Tommy I reflected back to the last time that Tommy and I worked together publicly. It was a day I will never forget because it was 9/12/2001. I had just co-curated an exhibition at a gallery called Pond in San Francisco. We had scheduled for Tommy to perform in the gallery on September 12, of course with no idea what was going to happen on the day prior. Despite the events on the 11th we decided to proceed with his performance anyway thinking, perhaps naively, that the moment demanded art. On the day of the performance Tommy lay on a 3 x 5 foot platform covered with pink rug, 4 feet off the ground attached to one of the galleries walls. Tommy lay facing the wall wearing a two-piece black suite with a large oval hole cut out of the jacket exposing his naked back.

Throughout the day Tommy lay very still, almost sleeping on the platform. He would occasionally plead with an amplified and pitch-shifted voice, for people to please come and touch him on his back. Of course this being the day after September 11th not a lot of people showed up to see his performance. So me and the other curator spent much of the day on the street, trying to convince people to come into the gallery. We told everyone that they would really enjoy the experience and it would help them with their grieving. Most people said flatly or even hostilely, NO, they didn’t want to see art or they just didn’t have the time, especially on that day. But every once in a while someone would accept. I remember we convinced this one woman to do the performance by telling her that it would really make her feel better. She didn’t quite believe us but she said she did want to feel better. We explained to her that she should go to Tommy and put her hand on his naked back. She unflinchingly moved forward and placed her hand on his back. Immediately Tommy responded in a deep computer altered voice, “Thank you…thank you for touching me”. I am sure it was an unusual experience for her, I imagine she could feel his voice when he spoke, reverberating through his body and through the bass of the amplifier below. She held her hand there, touching Tommy with her eyes closed, for what seemed an incredibly long time. Finally she let go, stepped back and thanked Tommy. When she walked towards us she said, “Thank you very much, that really did make me feel much better.”

If you want to hear the performance you can download the file here. It is 20 minutes long, so it might take some time. Tommy Becker - Poems to Be Read MP3

——
POEMS TO BE READ WITH SMALL STONES AROUND A LARGE GRASS MOUND
by Tommy Becker

A poem to be read walking in place squeezing a stone and
punching night air as you recall lost afternoons.

lost afternoons behind sun drenched tavern doors
where flickering announcements
from floating TVs
yelled the outcomes of machinery competition
but failed to interrupt
intimate conversation
between rotating barstools
at the darkened end
of a swollen tomb.

A poem to be read cupping a stone between your hands while
you move your hands in a circle as you recall unexpected storms.

the unexpected storm
that shook young fruit from thin branches
and trampled jet lagged eyes in desperate airport lounges
and crowded exiting commuters under dirty dime-store awnings
and spit blush wine across a mother’s catalogue mound
and wrapped young lovers in a frayed family blanket
to count the seconds
between the pounding
of a god’s glowing hammer.

A poem to be read holding a stone between two fists at waist level
while rotating your torso as you give thanks to tattooed bodies.

The tattoos placed on bodies
that helped keep hearts beating
across dark stages
to backstage skylights
where fresh air whistled
through the crumbling tape
on thin plastic cracks
and cooled crushed eyelids
in the exhaust of mourning
or sudden jolt
in a gasp for continuation
with the early morning air

A poem read with a rock in one hand while you grab your wrist
and move it vertically up and down as you recall quiet elevator
rides.

quiet elevator rides
“good morning”
familiar stranger
remember when a yawn, a sigh, a sip or a crack of a joint
was as significant as a fire engine siren?
Body sound bounced freely
without distraction
Portable handheld devices? No.
There were levels of polish on them shoes
patient in their morning migration
across even lines of late shift vacuuming
past the polished entryway wood that never weathered
where strategically placed roses held their pedals
They had somehow lost their fragrance
but it was all so perfect
in that much admired
asymmetrical
corporate
structure. Yes.

A poem to be read while you hold a stone against the back of one
hand as you bring that hand to and from your chest as you
dedicate this movement to the first marks you ever made.

the first marks made
with crayon or chalk
on paper or sidewalk
a mass of brown lines
represented a father
a long blue oval
represented a mother
you were
just the dot
with your tired arm
rushing to share your invisibility
in the grandeur of their abstracted love

A poem to be read holding a stone while you make windshield wiper
movements with your whole arm as you give thanks to the ground.

the ground
that cradled cold pools of evening rain
and covered neon wrappers
with the rusted leaves of fall
and absorbed the decaying bodies
of once brilliant lemons
and denied a pink plastic press-on nail
entrance to its soil
and buried the hollow bodies of bees
between edges of gold bark beauty
and hid sneering ants
as they scrambled through their chores
and steadied the tumbling of history
in the cracks of ancient pillars
and felt the energy of young lovers
as they twisted their limbs
behind the walls
of spray-painted
concrete fixtures

you rest your head on your hands like it’s a pillow as you recall
abstractions of the mind.

Abstractions of the mind
kindly tap the spines
and pull at the unconscious
in their convoluted drift
outside the pocket
Around the flowered prints
of their beaten mattress
souls float and knit
cosmic multi-colored blankets
I have a coffee card punched eight times
in my pocket
I have thousands of hours logged in the darkness of my lover’s eye
in my pocket
I have new realities to charge and sign and sin
in my pocket
I have a nodding comfort
in lifting hymns
in my pocket
as the evening drinks deepen
and the body graciously
slouches
in my pocket

All poems by Tommy Becker 2008

——-

This interview with Tommy Becker was recorded on August 28, 2008 at the Liberties Irish Bar & Restaurant in San Francisco directly following Barak Obama’s democratic nomination speech.

Anthony Marcellini: Just last night I was having a conversation with my parents about Buddhism, my mother is not exactly a Buddhist but she had been practicing Buddhist meditation for a while now. The more we talked about Buddhism and what Buddhism means to both my father and mother, it began to dawn on me that there are a lot of ties between positions in Buddhism and this project’s focus in Utopia, possibility and engagement with the everyday. Mostly it seems related to the Buddhist notion of presentness, which my mother kept reiterating throughout the night. Presentness means to be present and aware of yourself in each and every moment, knowing that each moment will pass never to be repeated exactly the same again.

I am wondering with your project, the exercise poems, which clearly have meditative or perhaps even spiritual elements to them, how much has Buddhism or spirituality had an influence on your project and/or on your work as a whole.

Tommy Becker: Well my work stems from an emotional realism and a search for beauty and I guess when you talk about the spiritual, yes my work definitely searches for this, but not in a religious sense, but a transcendental sense in that I am trying to find my personal truth, not in a particular doctrine, but from personal experiences. There is an idea of trying to create some sort of universal moment or truth from a variety of elements whether it’s the group movements, the connections to the readings or the energy in the rocks. I think the instructional poems are really just celebrations of being. Especially, when you look at the rocks (used in the performance) which have been charged with positive vibrations from various a variety of chants; Gregorian, Muslim, Native American along side the pop beauty of the Beach Boys harmonies and Oprah interviews. It’s all about positive energy in a community, in our performance, tied to the earth rocks, movements and mental connections to the reflections, dedications, and appreciations of the poems. It links to the principles of Qi and the energy that flows inside and from use.

AM: Do you think then with your selection of Chants, The Beach Boys, Oprah and…what was the other one?

TB: Well I wanted to sleep with the stones. Which may or may not be a good thing depending on what sort of unconsciousness I enter into in my dream states. I can only hope that I sleep very soundly.

AM: With 50 stones that might be complicated.

TB: Yes, perhaps I should pad them or something. (laughs) Anyway I want to interject good dream thoughts into them. It may be that I just engage in some prolonged cuddling.

AM: Besides a kind of mystical sentiment, there is also something very pop American about your choices of Oprah Winfrey or the Beach Boys. I could certainly relate the Beach Boy’s song ‘Good Vibrations’ to a kind of 60’s spirituality, perhaps eastern influenced, but it seems that you are more interested in introducing the stones to American values or the day-to-day lives of Americans or just simply American pop culture. I mean I can’t really imagine a Buddhist retreat where everyone would meditate to Oprah or the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”.

TB: I would bet you that Buddhist monks, after they leave the temple, watch Oprah Winfrey or listen to pop music. I think we have all of these preconceived notions about what people, whose lives are considered very spiritual, are really like. But there is always this duality in what is happening in the pop world and what is happening in the everyday, and it could be dismissed, Oprah could be dismissed and maybe she should be. But for me it is this miracle that she can provide a forum that connects people in this positivity, this is a wonderful thing.

AM: Sure, just because it is populist doesn’t mean that there is not something spiritual or redeeming about it.

When I was talking to my parents the other night my mother and I were arguing because I was trying to tell her that I felt you couldn’t always be present. Say you work in a factory doing the same metal work day after day, which actually could be seen as almost ascetic. But actually you work long hours, sparks fly everywhere, they burn you, get in your hair, the air is toxic, it’s hard to breath, it is generally pretty horrible as well as totally mundane. Does it help you to be in the moment, to be Zen with that experience? But perhaps I missed the point, at least that is what she was saying. It is not about positivity, it is not about making the mundane or the horrible positive but just realizing that you are in it, that it is happening because of you rather than trying to escape the moment.

TB: But I think you can brain wash yourself in that too. I think you have to appreciate where you are. I am a steel worker and I have a job. This is great, and a great to be proud of, but you must also always question where you are. You can’t just say, “there are beautiful sparks coming off the metal” or “I am so lucky to have this steel cutter in my hand”. You cannot delude yourself from what your body and mind are telling you. You cannot get trapped in that.

AM: So what will you do to not trap the stones.

TB: Well I am hoping for the show to have great movement and great participation. But most importantly I hope that people will take the stones with them. The idea is that people will leave with the stones and just be able to have them and acknowledge the event of the day and maybe pass them on to someone who might need them.

AM: And where will you pick the stones?

TB: The stones will be picked up from Glen Park Canyon. It’s a location I go to on a daily basis to walk my dog. It’s a beautiful enclosed area and has these dramatic rock formations and sometimes goats are brought in to clear brush, good animal energy.

AM: Say a stone comes home with me. Actually I have a stone collection. Which is a little strange, it is actually growing but almost subconsciously.

TB: My brother had a rock collection growing up.

AM: Yeah but mine are weird stones, they are not shined or anything. They are related more to my and Laura’s experiences then geology. We just brought one back from Germany recently. I found the stone somewhere in Berlin when I was walking around with Laura and our friend Heman. Later when we sat down at a restaurant I put it on top of the table. When the waiter came over to refill our glasses he said, “Ist dieses ein kartoffel, oder ein Stein, ah ist es ein Stein.”, (Is this a potato or a stone, ah it’s a stone.) This exchange gave this somewhat non-descript stone meaning and so we carried it home with us. And similarly your stones are given meaning through this experience.

TB: Yeah the stone becomes a memento of sorts, from an experience. Or perhaps even a gift that can be passed on. I can’t give folks new cars like Oprah can, but I can give them a bit of charged earth. Hopefully people will take the stone and the poems home and continue with some of the exercises. But even if people leave with just the stones I will feel as if some good has been done.

AM: Yeah it’s funny this reminds me of another American trope, these Klutz guidebooks. They were how-to books that you could buy as a kid to teach you juggling or magic tricks or other dexteritas pursuits. The books all came with a mesh bag holding the tools, juggling balls, a deck of trick cards etc… With this interview pamphlet we are making, which will include some of the poems, and the edition of the stones that people can take home, there is really a Klutz like relationship. Another American pop cultural reference.

Klutz was funny because it is a great example of how people always have to have something stand in, or mediate their experience with something new. Something that equalizes them to other people, making difficult tasks approachable.

TB: Something that makes you feel less alone.

AM: Something that comes between your feelings of inadequacy and this task, hobby or skill that you are interested in participating in, yet still seems unapproachable. In a way your project is about bridging the unapproachable or the space between.

TB: Definitely, though it is also about challenging what poetry can be. It seems like poetry can be such an intense situation, to have someone read you poetry, and you can feel like you are not a part of the poet’s world. The stone as a prop can allow you to enter into the poet’s world somehow.

AM: What are you problems with poetry. Why wouldn’t you call yourself a poet.

TB: I am always thinking visually. I am topically looking at poetry and the video component to it. The relationship between words, rhythms in speech, tonality and how that relates to the visual and the moving image. The stones replace the video in that sense, and put the video into people’s hands. Whenever I think of poetry, I think only of the written word and there are not those other elements involved.

AM: So then how important is the live performance for you. There is nothing that you can take away from it except your experience. Rather than the video, which is always a document. conversely the stones in this sense can never recount the experience to you but you can always recount your experience through them.

TB: Well, when I was thinking of different elements to use to try to achieve that, I wanted something from the earth that has been evolved or changed over time. Not purchased.

AM: I also want to apologize for interrupting our meeting with this (Obama’s Democratic convention speech). I just felt like we couldn’t miss this event. I also really wanted to meet with you somewhere public, since I think all your projects have such a public mandate. And I think that this election, being an election about possibility, hope and change, however cliché, is also a very real election in that I think people know that things will not change completely and certainly not without some struggle. And I think that this has a relationship to the subtext of my whole project, it is trying to look at expression, peoples way of imagining other alternatives, which does have a revolutionary, subversive and positive component to it. Somebody has to be the vanguard, even at the risk of looking ridiculous, to at least illustrate possibility.

TB: For me it was the energy in the bar tonight. It was really wonderful to feel that there was some sort of unity that could be felt in a mass of people. I think people are ready for a change, but I am worried that people are putting too much of the burden for change on this one man. It is really up to us to make it happen. My bigger concern is if change isn’t delivered. If change doesn’t rear its head it could become politics as usual and everyone will feel cheated and it could be somewhat catastrophic for the American political psyche.

AM: I just think that what Obama does deliver, even if only symbolically, is possibility and hope, which I think is what people really need most of all. And I don’t think that America is a place where people will sit back and let others do things for them. When people feel good about themselves they do good things.

TB: Well I think people need to be self-motivated, and maybe Obama will be the rallying cry. He’s got good energy about him.