Permanent Collection of Déjà Vu
Survey
2011, "Shine A Light" at the Portland Art Museum. Portland OR.
A performance/survey taking exercise during P.A.M.'s "Shine a Light" event. Museum visitors were asked a series of questions linking the art viewing experience with the déjà vu experience by craigslist actors. The results will be housed in the museum's collection. Below is text from the proposal to the museum:
Art has the uncanny ability to both bring us into the present moment and to transport us out of it. Perhaps it is for this reason that it can be possible to experience déjà vu, a sensation of having previously experienced a work of art, even without ever having seen it before.
An event such as Shine a Light also has a relationship to this psychological condition. After several successful years, there is pressure to recall past performance. However, past performance was itself based on a radical break with the past: rethinking what can be done in a museum. The question I would like to explore then might be posed as this: How can we come to terms with mixed feelings towards déjà vu in the long-term picture? Should we promote or discourage this sensation among attendees to the event?