Object/Fetish: Staging the Suspension of Disbelief in Every Day Life
How does fantasy fuel the way we interact and perform with objects in our daily lives? Why do some people fall in love with objects or end up marrying the Eifel tower? Where do sex toys and animism intersect? In Object/Fetish, we examine the underpinnings of the suspension of disbelief and how objects are and can be fetishized in everyday life.
In Object/Fetish we explore media from the margins of what is traditionally thought of as puppetry and object theater for the consumption of theatrical audiences in areas that include masking, furrie fandom, object sexuality, and the rise of artificial companions.
I have presented Object/Fetish as both a 30 minute and a 3 hour artist talk with classroom discussions. Currently I am expanding the scope of Object/Fetish, creating a version suitable for a 10-15 session semester-long class.
Object/Fetish has been presented at:
- California Institute for the Arts (CalArts)
- Calgary Animated Object Society (CAOS)
- Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)
- Baltimore’s Transmodern Festival
- University of Connecticut
for the Puppetry & Post-Dramatic Performance Conference
This material is suitable for undergraduate and graduate-aged students. If you would like to see footage from my presentation at the University of Connecticut or an example curriculum, please contact me.
