Inspired by an event of the same name that took place at DC Art Center twenty years before, I organized Midnight to Dawn at my studio. The event consisted of nine artists, including myself, performing in succession throughout the night. We chose the order at random and completed two cycles of performances. It was the last Saturday before I had to leave my space, a sad celebration. I didn’t invite anyone but the performers and a few friends. My performance, in two parts, used the intimacy of the event to share something I had only done in private.

Piss Test: By flashlight I opened a pregnancy test. I told everyone I had been holding it in for a while so I was anxious to get this over with. I told everyone I hadn’t had a period in two months. I said I took a pregnancy test a few weeks before, I didn’t tell my partner because I didn’t want to worry him, I told him later and he was upset that I went through it alone. It was terribly frightening and lonely to do it alone. So, I told everyone I decided to open up this isolating experience and share it with an audience. I dropped the flashlights in a bucket and draped myself in clear plastic, “for privacy,” I said. Squatting, I peed in the glowing bucket on the little plastic sticks. We waited. The results came through, I showed everyone the negative results with another flashlight, and then turned the lights back on. I’ve seen lots of dudes pee in buckets for performance, I took that macho action and made it my own.

Private Pizza: I turned off the lights and turned on my headlight. I sat in the middle of the floor and filed down my right index and middle fingernails. I got up and walked to the kitchen, I told everyone to stay where they were. I could direct light by moving my head. I retrieved a pizza from the fridge. I picked up plastic sheeting and pulled it over my head, I dragged it across the space to the opposite corner, the same corner where I had taken my piss test earlier in the night. I faced the corner and ate, you could hear me chewing. I left my beer outside the plastic, I crept out to snatch it and bring it back in. I ate and drank for a few minutes. I turned around and crawled to the middle of the space. I purged into the bucket. The light on my forehead made it glow. I left with the bucket, shrouded in plastic, and turned the lights back on.