A Performance Art Piece by Joshua O’Brien

A Proper Dinner was my solo performance art piece. Setting up a long dinner table where the food hung from the ceiling, out of reach of the audience and myself, who sat at the head of the table opposite a long-standing mirror. The audience’s positions mimicked mine, as they sat opposite a large mirror wall, creating the illusion that everyone was dining with themself. I had created a soundscape of clinking glasses and scraping knives that eventually bled into pre-recorded audio bits of the audience members saying “you shouldn’t do that”. It was through this discouraging sea of chatter that I walked along the table, cutting down the food that hung above the audience’s heads- all until I got to my own mirror. Standing face to face with myself I was forced to smash my own likeness with a candlestick until silence rang out through the room. I quickly took my seat at the head of the table, and began eating: a proper dinner.