Part 2 of my three-part series of performative writings in which I adopt an imaginary time traveling avatar self in order to witness the “intimacies” that I imagine generated in participatory performances that I have never seen, is now live at The Present Tense! Though fictional, this account is based on research, and includes quotes taken from a paper by the artist, Helen Paris. Here's a little taste:
I turn off my phone and reach for the metal. I feel a gentle shock and see a faint blue spark reaching for me. I saw one of these as a kid, I think. At a science museum or fair. I remember reaching for it with fingers sticky from candy, Mom telling me not to touch or I’d get it dirty. I hover my fingers just off the surface, a blue string of electricity dancing between me and the apparatus. My hair stands on end. On the platform there is note:
Egyptians believed that the third finger of the left hand follows the vena amoris, the vein of love that runs directly to the heart. A direct “digital” blood flow.
I imagine this blue flame swimming up my inner arm and through my coronary arteries. I shiver and pull my hand away.