PERFORMANCE AT THE DMV

2003, VIDEO, 45 minutes
Vodeography, Ken Callaway

If a central focus of Grown Man Naked Project is the concept of gift-giving, then equally important is the concept of using humor as a vehicle for bringing relief to everyday tensions, boredom, anxieties and irritations. The bureaucratic structures of modern and post-modern life create environments where individuality is systemically denied. Complex emotions are required to be held in check. Rules are applied with an arbitrary democracy that denied the unique situation of the individual. The line between "take a number" and "be a number" disappears. Caveney defines these environments, "venues of suppression." Caveney addresses this dehumanizing influence not with protest, but with humor.

He explains: "This Performance was at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and was about redefining the idea of "public art" and who it serves. I chose the device of humor to lighten-up the suppressed situation. In California the registration fee on autos had tripled so citizens really did not like spending their money or their Saturdays there. So I shared jokes ... handed out blow pops...did a funk action painting with James Brown tunes. My objective was to take some of the folks out of their context of being at the DMV or to perhaps put being at the DMV into more positive public position. I plan to seek out other venues of suppression for this piece."

Caveney refers in his statement to the broader mission of Grown Man Naked Project: examining the role of public art, and the "public" it serves. Through the project, Caveney explores the meanings, motivations and function of public art in post-modern society.