2005 -2007
Performance
Oh Petroleum is a performance that combines performance art, music, and video/animation projections to further the dialogue about oil supply and demand, trends in environmental activism, and energy politics. The show features the artist performing as the “Petroleum Pop Princess Baroness Mistress,” and the Crude Oil Dancers. Some of the songs in the show include “Deplete Me,” “Conservation!,” and “Sea Plants and Animals Die and Sink, Man.” The work uses metaphor, humor, and audience interaction.
The Oh, Petroleum performance started as a show that was a combination of a “lo-fi vaudeville-esque show” mixed with song and dance that explored the past, present, and future of petroleum. The work eventually evolved into a pop concert focus and form.
The costumes for the show in 2005-06 were ruffled outfits made of petroleum-based plastic sheeting. The outfits were inspired from a show I saw in Las Vegas before I developed the work. The show was developed at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Summer 2005.
The show was performed for lots of different audiences and locations and evolved along the way. The Crude Oil Dancers were friends, volunteers, and groups I met while on tour. Thanks all Crude Oil Dancers!
