The moment a shovel is pushed into the ground a connection to the land and a commitment to action begins.
The act of unearthing the ground is humbling, it builds strength and requires determination. Digging also unearths unrealized opportunities that would otherwise remain buried. In our performance installation we are using digging as a metaphor for the challenges we face. Should we define our experiences from manufactured sources and cultural invention? Or, do we choose to dig toward the center of who are, finding a solid foundation to move forward.
Digging will take place over thirty days. Beginning with level ground the team will work daily to create earthen mounds. In the last four days the earth will be re-leveled. Participants in the performance will wear costumes representing different aspects of American culture like the service industry, business class, farmers, and criminals. Using hand tools dirt will be accumulated into mounds. Through more than 580 combined hours of labor, Digging demonstrates facing personal and social challenge.
Although this performance lends itself to many interpretations about the workplace, inequality, and politics, the mounds of digging are ultimately acknowledgments of everyone’s connection to the earth. The Waterfront community expresses the universal experience of land transitioning out of a natural state. This neighborhood is only blocks away from the Nations capitol, an enormous monument of power with global implications. Digging will become a permanent Nonument in our memory speaking to another kind of power.