Egalitarian 2005
Part of Idea Series Co-presented by FADO. Performed at my home studio in Toronto
Photo Credit: Shannon Cochrane

Imagine this is the first time you have been invited to Louise Liliefeldt’s apartment. The space is packed with people talking loudly and passing around beers. The atmosphere changes quickly when the performance begins because the first thing Liliefeldt does is lock us in by barricading the front door, and halts the flow of refreshments by wrapping a chain around the refrigerator and securing it with a padlock.

This performance, entitled Egalitarian, takes place at midnight in the artist’s apartment, which is significant because home is a place of refuge and sanctuary, but for Liliefeldt it is also a place of confinement and isolation. Wearing a black work shirt with the word “SPECIES” printed on the back, she makes a series of actions set to songs she plays on a nearby boombox. On the surface these actions satisfy because they are married to the beat or the tone of the song, but they are also opaque and aggressive. She paints a black box directly onto the wall, her body spotted by the shadows she’s created through the placement of clip lamps around the room, positioned behind plants and other bits of furniture.

On top of the newly painted black box, she over- paints violent slashes of red by dipping a cat-o-nine-tails into a bucket of red paint, and whipping the wall for the duration of “Clampdown” by The Clash, an ode to the failure of capitalism, and a warning to the working class not to get caught up in the tide of individualism. The repetition of “work” and “more work” in the refrain’s backing vocal imbues this action with a sense of futility, and a profound sadness. Packed into her cramped studio apartment, sitting on the floor, in the loft, leaning against all the walls and each other, the audience is a part of and privy to a private ritual. ~ Shannon Cochrane 2016