(DIRTY~CLEAN)CLEANERS
first performed on October 17, 2020
Current Space
performed three times in 2020
LAURE DROGOUL
Baltimore
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lauredrogoul.com
(DIRTY~CLEAN)CLEANERS
LAURE DROGOUL
Using a mixture of carcinogenic chemicals and an abundance of ghostly plastic bags, dry-cleaning is the ultimate act of un-cleaning. This performance is part of a project researching the afterlife of human-made materials related to domesticity. Like the living dead, dry-cleaning generates a dead zone in the natural world, lingering long past its time. Set in a storefront gallery, the performance takes the form of an otherworldly dry-cleaner shop made up of thousands of clear polyethylene dry-cleaning bags. Four performers, myself included, activate the storefront windows as Sisyphean cleaning clerks. Dressed entirely in plastic, gloved, masked, and wearing goggles, the clerks perpetually sanitize, fold, and sort thousands of plastic dry-cleaning bags.