Local Distraction, 1983, multimedia performance

“Local Distraction” was a multimedia performance project and also a site-specific work created by Lynn Book in Memphis, TN, 1983. It was staged in the oldest YMCA in the urban core at the invitation of noted downtown developer Henry Turley. The sunken racquetball court was the playing area that Book chose for its acoustics and the placement of bleacher seating on the opposite side of a large protective glass barrier. It became the site for audiences to view this and another work by dancer and choreographer Katherine Mitchell (a collaborative partner with Book producing events and co-creating performance projects from 1978 - 1987 (Memphis and Chicago). Book salvaged sports and locker room furniture for the work including benches and large mirrors that a line of women slowly carried across the court in unison, catching audience reflections as they processed. Book’s project included 8 performers, a film projection of a 9th performer who, using American Sign Language, enlarged the concepts of communication structures, hierarchies of order, gender status and an inherent danger and promise of disjunct narratives. This collection includes photo slide documentation, the film for performance, announcement, performance structure handwritten notes.

Lynn Book was the artist, director, designer, videographer and performer