“Swinging Tonight” in Suomenlinna and “Swinging by the Moon” on Harakka Island were performances with projections created in the same places. I fastened the blue swing from my 2013 performance “Year of the Snake Swinging” on a tree, invited the public to swing and documented their swinging on video. In the actual performance the edited video was projected onto the same site, while I tried to swing synchronized with the swinging in the image. I have combined live action with the projected image of that action before, but have never before projected a video onto the site of its making. Marianne Hirsch’s description of Lorie Novak’s projections on vegetation at night in Interfaces (Smith & Watson 2002) was an inspiration for my outdoor projections.

The first participatory pre-performance took place at the t0NiGHt event in Suomenlinna (May 23-24). I invited those present to swing in a tree next to gallery Augusta just before sunrise. For the actual performance at the next t0NiGHt event (July 25-26) the edited video was projected on the roof next to the tree, while I tried to swing synchronized with it for approximately 90 minutes.

The second participatory pre-performance took place at the opening of the exhibition “Water Images” on Harakka Island (May 29) with the swing fastened to an old birch tree in the yard. The actual performance took place at the Moonlight Party (August 9) on the same site. At night the projection was visible against the white trunk of the birch. Part of the performance was recorded (vimeo.com/103242549).

Performing with the projection of an image on the site of its making is something I plan to experiment with further.