Noise Level, Fundamental; or Sunday School is an immersive theatrical experience. The installation and performance take the loose structure of an evangelical Sunday School space & service, complete with puppets, songs, crafts and Bible stories, as viewed through the fond and somewhat glowing yet fearful lens of childhood memory. Surrounded by American evangelical imagery, sounds, and a collage of ephemera, viewers can take an active part in the event or objectively observe from outside of the boundaries of the installation. They are also invited to add their own memories and thoughts to the collaged walls, using materials at art-making stations in the space. The objects, sounds, and experience are familiar, yet unfamiliar and dreamlike, made new by a change of context and viewpoint.
Though the specific experience of contemporary white evangelical Christianity may be foreign to some, no doubt, many will find echoes of their own experience with American church-life. I’m interested in these places of recognition and resonance, particularly as our world and communities have come to be so polarized. I hope to build a communal dialogue and understanding into how our experiences shape who we are, and how we have come to be at this strange juncture in history. Through close examination of my own ex-vangelical origin story steeped in American Christian Fundamentalism, I am endeavoring to identify places in the narrative where the familiar and cherished begin to break down, to trace the seeds of its transmutation into something that is now almost unrecognizable to me, and with the hope of also invoking empathy and understanding across the divide.
This project is next in a series of works by ArtBabyPerformance entitled Noise Level, in which the enigmatic character <Figure A> is inserted, in an effort to make sense of the seemingly insensible. ArtBabyPerformance is the work of theatre and performance artist Jessica Davenport. https://www.artbabyperformance.com/
*Possible Trigger Warning-The subject of religion and religious experience can be a sensitive topic, and meets many in deeply personal ways, sometimes entwined with experiences of trauma. This project is not meant to disparage, or to endorse, a particular brand of Christianity, or religion. Nor is it meant to be a parody. In this work, the artist strives to be authentic to their own experience, and to recreate it in such a way as to allow others to look through the window of childhood memory into a richly colored world fraught with both wonder and warmth, and fearful imaginations.
Made Possible by CACHE (Creative Arkansas Community Hub & Exchange), The Medium, the Creative Exchange Fund (CXF), and the Tyson Family Foundation
