8 Bells Performance and Audio
8 Bells is an audio creation with accompanied performance
In “8 Bells” I draw on the enormity of memorized knowledge required during my eleven years in the military. From the very first day of Swab Summer (6 weeks of boot camp before starting school at the Coast Guard Academy) it was demanded we memorize the contents of the Running Light, a small handheld book we carried everywhere and studied in every available moment. Other information also needed to be memorized such as how to prep uniforms, how to set up the contents of your barracks room (even how to fold your socks), service etiquette, and how to walk, talk and behave. Once graduated and into the active duty workforce, I was required to retain and regurgitate information on other topics: ship handling maneuvers, forces on a ship, ship’s systems, Rules of the Road (how ships interact with each other at sea), United States laws, Coast Guard policies, as well as navigation, foreign relations, and fisheries laws and regulations. There was a never-ending slew of what to know and how to be.
The audio portion of this artwork layers the contents of this knowledge. At times it is almost intelligible what is being said and instead becomes only one noise. By pairing the audio with performance, a series of repetitive movements intrinsic to life in the Coast Guard, I share an intimate view into the world of a female Coast Guard officer. Many of the movements reflect the domestic (mopping, shining shoes, ironing) but are mechanized and done in service to the government instead of the home. The piece is titled “8 Bells” which references the traditional way of marking time for a four hour watch on a ship, 8 bells being the final toll or end of watch. Because I perform in a circle, this perspective calls to mind cyclical life experiences, all the movements that make that up, how they accumulate, and what this says about who we are.
