Artist Statement

Joshua Bisset

“I create my performance by changing the relations of bodies to each other and to space through time. By playing with these fundament elements, I address subjects of our experience: meeting the self, recognizing the other, meeting the other, learning about the  environment, forming the group, breaking apart.

My performance works take place in a subjective environment; I do not  believe in a neutral body or a neutral space. I use improvisation and  audience participation to acknowledge the subjective and unique  character of every performance. At the same time my work recognizes the  power of patterns of nature and rules of societies relating to movement  and space. My works, like life of the street, form between highly formed  actions and improvised responses.

I often create my art outside of theatrical contexts in public  places, such as rooftops, intersections and galleries. This way, my work  reaches a broad group and opens a dialogue among people in and about  their space. Crossing frontiers of public and private challenges  assumptions about the use of public space and the place of physical  expression. I am developing work with crowds, land art and visual  installations in collaborations with visual artists. This latest works  reflect an expansion of my sense of performing spaces, public  interactivity and political overtures.”