In Your Defense

For her spring 2012 residency in performance art at the Clocktower Gallery, writer and engineer of unsettling fantasies Alaina Stamatis conducted a series of surreal classes, referred to as "Strife Lessons." By hypnotizing an audience through soothing narration, and pleasurable, repetitive motion, Stamatis guided participants through a themed succession of traumatic experiences. The hope was that when they emerged from her "class," they learned to value their happy lives and were propelled toward greatness. Each event included a collaboration with a musician, who created an appropriate, harrowing soundscape. This performance series was supplemented by self-help broadcasts for Art International Radio and informative, pocket-sized books.

In this self-defense class, choreographed by esteemed martial artist Mark DeNardo, questions of one's own armament against natural and man-made elements are risen and then mulled over; through soothing narration these ideas are then laced with doubt regarding a possible shield from one's own past behaviors. Participants enjoyed an elegant beginners lesson in self-defense. The class was live-scored by Camilla Padgitt-Coles of Future Shuttle and Ivy Meadows.