project image
Gordilloscudder Gallery and Jennyfer Haddad
THE HEADACHE HAPPENING

first performed on December 13, 2013
Gordilloscudder Art Space, Brooklyn, NY
performed once in 2013

JENNYFER HADDAD

Brooklyn, NY
jennyferhaddad@gmail.com
jennyferhaddad.com

THE HEADACHE HAPPENING
JENNYFER HADDAD

For this performance I created multi-disciplinary installations that mix the boundaries between film and theater, with subject matters that combine autobiography, reality documentation and fiction, bringing up discussions about identity, communication, media and society with a humoristic touch. “The Headache Happening” is a durational performance piece. Certain instructions based on different scenarios of “The Headache Happening” were repeated by the gallery owner every day for 50 days (December 13, 2013 – January 31st, 2014). The project unravels a routine which connects certain clues, characters and performers all in the same space. Fifty eyes were cropped from dead fish bought in a local fish market in New York and put in 50 jars; these eyes, or silent observers, called “extras,” were held in a waiting room—a fridge. The eye-extra is refreshed every day and placed on a certain spot, and there is a scene with additional instructions that are all connected to the other elements in the space. An exploration of a character is displayed in a form of magazine that was specifically made for this happening. The cover of the magazine shows a woman reading a book. From her expression it is clear that she has a headache. This character imagery has created other fictional scenes in this happening: a wardrobe that is displayed and blended within the floor space, a published Craigslist ad looking for male and female extras who can evoke and imitate what the character from the magazine represents. The gallery owner/performer is instructed to make sure that the machinery, scenes and stations all work together in a circulatory rhythm. For 50 days the performer is conducting between the different elements and scenes; these actions include refreshing and placing the eyes-extras in their designated position, washing and wrapping jars, circulating tags, checking the drop-off box hung outside of the space to see if anyone dropped their image and information from the Craigslist ad and instructing the viewer at certain times. We, the viewers, the performer (gallery owner), the fish eyes and the space, are all waiting for the characters, the performers, the Doppelgangers to respond to the Craigslist ad.