Part installation and part performance, “Untitled (Cake Box)” uses vulnerability as a material and creates a one-on-one environment with the viewer to engineer intimacy. To engage with “Untitled (Cake Box)” the participant would stick their head inside a large, suspended crate. Once inside, a light would switch on and they would find me silent and expressionless on all fours, slowly eating a black forest cake while maintaining steady eye contact. This had the effect of creating a private experience between two individuals, where each was in a position of intense vulnerability, even though it occurred in the public arena of a gallery. Our mutual vulnerability opened up the potential to share moments of intimacy whether it be through held eye contact, hand-feeding cake, or even a kiss between strangers.
charley friedman, copyright