November 2021
Naropa Univeristy Cube Gallery, Solo Exhibit
Boulder, Colorado
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Mary Shoen is a multi-disciplinary performing artist who creates works that utilize the body as an icon in order to investigate the human experience. Shoen is interested in considering how to create encounters of immediacy and intimacy between the artist and the audience. Encounters which catch and hold. Encounters that linger in our mind.
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“Order and Sacrifice” is an installation performance that examines what must be sacrificed in order for a society to have ease. Drawing inspiration from “The ones who walked away from Omelas” a short story By Ursula K. Le Guin , Shoen invites the audience to encounter what the cost of comfort is. What is the sacrifice required for the order in which we find ourselves? And if we choose to encounter the gaze of the other, the one on whose back the perfection stands, how will we respond?
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During the two week run of this installation, Shoen would be locked inside of the cage from 1-4 hours while passersby were invited to explore the space and "take a seat" on the cushion in front of the cage.
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