Calmly Engaged (2011) is a durational performance by Brian McCorkle and Esther Neff. Biorhythms, body heat, and breathing are channeled by over 400 feet of plastic tubing held over chakra points on the artists bodies by black leather harnessing. The artists are attached to each other and cut off from almost all external sensory input. Individual audience members enter engagement by stepping on a pedal, putting on gloves and headphones that connect their energies to those of the artists. The artists respond inside the feedback loop by generating text and sound via two keyboards (one instrument, one computer keyboard) which can then be heard over headphones and read onscreen by the audience member.
This piece has been performed at Flux Factory (Oct 2011) and Wildlife Gallery (Dec 2011), both performances lasting almost 5 hours.
Documentation of PPL's performance of Calmly Engaged at Flux Factory as part of a benefit for Habitable Spaces in October 2011: