Public Performance, 2005

Originally Produced for Performa 05

The Laughing Lounge is part horror show, part healing lounge. This intimate spectacle poses the question: What happens when a room full of people laughs and laughs…and laughs, for several hours straight?

Over the course of three evenings, audiences gathered in the dimly lit front space of the gallery Jack the Pelican Presents, Brooklyn, where they were invited to sit, drink, and laugh incessantly. If they grew weary, others took their place so that a constantly uproarious group was maintained.

Under video surveillance, their mirth was captured and projected live into the gallery’s back space, directly onto the disco ball mirrored dresses of three performers — Tori Sparks, Robert Appleton and Quin Charity — who danced, posed and laughed atop a rotating platform, producing a giddy mix of performer and performing spectators laughter together.