My Beloved Humans,
Life is...
Writing, Participatory Performance“My Beloved Humans, Life is...” is a written manifesto and participatory performance based on text collected from Tesco packaging. It looks into the culture of branding and advertising with a question of how these messages shape our everyday life.
THE CONCEPT
My Beloved Humans, Life is...
This work started from a collection of text from Tesco’s label, with a discovery that they each contains message like “Vibrant & Tangy”, “Rich & Golden” , “Savoury & Crunchy”. While these text are positive description of their products, they also describe life and the flavour that life carries. A manifesto was therefore created based on these collected text in the first phase with a satirical approach.
In the second phase, I started to question:
Why do brands usually fill us with just positive message?
Is life always this positive?
How will you choose between a mild and nasty life, which one may you prefer?
This leads to a participatory performance where the audience becomes an active performer in deciding what life is. The decsription of life changes as time and people pass by.
My Beloved Humans, Life is...
This work started from a collection of text from Tesco’s label, with a discovery that they each contains message like “Vibrant & Tangy”, “Rich & Golden” , “Savoury & Crunchy”. While these text are positive description of their products, they also describe life and the flavour that life carries. A manifesto was therefore created based on these collected text in the first phase with a satirical approach.
In the second phase, I started to question:
Why do brands usually fill us with just positive message?
Is life always this positive?
How will you choose between a mild and nasty life, which one may you prefer?
This leads to a participatory performance where the audience becomes an active performer in deciding what life is. The decsription of life changes as time and people pass by.
A manifesto and participatory performance inspired by collected text from Tesco
Prompts for participatory performance:
1. All participants sit down, facing the prompts “LIFE IS”. The description of life on both sides are tearable.
2. The rightmost person will start by tearing one paper
3. The next person will move on after the first person sits down, and tear the next.
If you don’t like the text on the paper you first tore, you have the chance to tear it once more.
If you like it, you can decide not to tear
4. Repeat until all the paper is torn, leaving a blank statement behind
5. Do everything at your own pace, slow and silence
Let’s witness to see how life may feel when time pass by.
1. All participants sit down, facing the prompts “LIFE IS”. The description of life on both sides are tearable.
2. The rightmost person will start by tearing one paper
3. The next person will move on after the first person sits down, and tear the next.
If you don’t like the text on the paper you first tore, you have the chance to tear it once more.
If you like it, you can decide not to tear
4. Repeat until all the paper is torn, leaving a blank statement behind
5. Do everything at your own pace, slow and silence
Let’s witness to see how life may feel when time pass by.