The Story of Three Horse: Object Personhood in Performance

Story of Three Horse is a performative work in which I function simultaneously as a narrator, puppet, puppet theatre, creating a newly formed homogenous separate being. Wearing a carpet foam puppet theatre and candy corn flower boots, I transform into a non-human. The functionality of the puppet theatre is questioned when treated as clothing and transformed into a mobile home, or shell. The designation of the puppet theatre's function from place of concealment to a garment forces the object and narrative to be viewed in the same space time and reality which the viewer occupies. The function of disguise is further removed as my face and body are visible. This visibility results in mutual voyeurism and intimacy with the audience. We are watching one another while the narrative unfolds, reacting and responding to each other's emotions, and the emotive peaks of the story. The narrative is prerecorded and played with voice distortion. Choice to use an electronic voice further removes me from a human perspective and places me in the position of puppet and anthropomorphized object. The narrative is enacted with minimal movements and additional, rudimentary puppets. This moment of storytelling facilitates community and intimacy between the viewer and me, a non-human, narrative entity. The performance culminates in cutting a cardboard sun from the sky of the theatre and declaring that: "It's nighttime now. I better get going. Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye". And the carpet foam storyteller, a conjunction of puppet, puppeteer, and puppet theatre, walks away.