The Making of ChoreOVID #11 - Don't Just Sit There

In March 2020 many people entered into the world of Zoom – for teaching, meeting, and socializing. Along with colleagues and friends, I stumbled through the ins and outs of video, audio, chat, breakout rooms, and various approaches to Zoom etiquette. As the phenomenon of the “little boxes” and the strange disembodied gatherings became more familiar, jokes, memes, quips, and eye-rolls began to proliferate. Videos popped up - “How to Use Zoom Like a Pro”, “How to Look Better on Zoom”, “12 Zoom meeting tips”, etc. We learned to say “you’re on mute” and “thumbs up” became the international gesture of the era of the COVID pandemic – ironically enough.

For several months, I have been cogitating on why there is such a digital disconnect, and if there can be a better embodied presence on Zoom and other platforms. In June 2020, I co-hosted an academic panel on “Bodies in Virtual Space” and in my closing remarks said…

“… It seems that our relationship to digital technology does continue to evolve in marvelous ways; however perhaps for the vast majority of us, it has so far served simply as a vehicle for doing labor of various sorts, and we’ve become inured to the reality of our bodies at and with the screen. With this pandemic where we are having to conduct so many relationships and activities via a screen we’re forced to pay attention in some new ways….. Is this digital platform asking us to step up to a new kind of self-awareness?.... It is giving us a new level of attention, alertness, where we are learning new ways to feel others, to read nuance, and to give nuance. Can we adapt and move through these screens to become more human not less?”

These questions formed the underlying motivation for this piece in my ChoreOVID series. “Don’t Just Sit There” offers tips for energizing your screen-self… and in essence I actually fully believe in all of them. Once I had developed my script, collected my props, and found the voice and character that felt right (obsequious and conspiratorial?) I spent a couple of days and trials to figure out the physical set-up of furniture to easily move objects in and out of the video, have the right light, background, height, and be able to see my prompts.

I was perched on a stool, with a chair to my right for the hats; the computer a little precariously on a tray on a small bookshelf; and to my left the "subtle" objects on an ironing board along with a light bulb for more light, to counter the natural light froma window to my right.

My alter-ego Dawn Jess Sitzair, (say her whole name loosely and rapidly), wanted to wear her 1970’s green dress along with her 1980’s charm earrings and her 1990’s make-up …. All being a pointed way to contrast the 21st century of digitally disembodied and disappearing selfhoods. This was recorded on Zoom of course, and when Ric and I prepared to trim out my getting set up in the beginning, and the post-performance at the end, we realized the entire take was good so we kept it. If you haven’t, see all the way to the bitter end.

Link to the video: https://vimeo.com/500488711