Sarah Cameron Sunde  || United States

Sarah Cameron Sunde is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist and director working at the intersection of performance, video, and public art. Her work investigates scale and duration in relation to the human body, our environment, and deep time. It has been seen/experienced in many venues around New York and presented internationally in Norway, Netherlands, Bangladesh, China, Uganda, Iraqi Kurdistan, Brazil, Kenya. Residencies include Watermill Center, Baryshnikov Art Center, LMCC Workspace. Honors include MAP Fund, Princess Grace Foundation, Creative Climate Award. BA in Theater (UCLA); MFA in Digital and Interdisciplinary Art Practice (The City College of New York, CUNY).

“36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea” is a series of nine site-specific participatory performances and video artworks by New York-based interdisciplinary artist Sarah Cameron Sunde, spanning six continents and seven years (2013–2020). In each, Sunde stands in a tidal area for a full tidal cycle as water slowly engulfs her body and then recedes; the public participates in all aspects of making the work. Each work in the series consists of a live performance event, a long-form cinematic video work, and varied ephemera. The project examines the temporary nature of all things and our contemporary relationship with water in urban environments, as individuals, as a civilization, and as a species.

Concept note:

During the creation of each performance work in my 36.5 / A Durational Performance with the Sea series, I collaborate with a local artist to build a “Human Clock” — a series of performance interventions to mark the passing of each hour. In this video, I am working with a small part section of the original movement phrase: Count to 36.5 in your head as you slowly sink to the ground. Listen to the earth beneath you and the water beneath the earth. Count to 36.5 in your head as you find a way to rise up slowly Layering an approximate map of the world onto my current rural location in upstate New York, I performed this simple gesture in nine spots, each one connecting to one of the nine locations where the work has taken (or will take) place: Maine, Mexico, San Francisco, Bangladesh, Brazil, Kenya, Aotearoa New Zealand, and New York City. Real sound from the day is layered with a hint of the 36.5 music made by collaborator Joshua Dumas. The resulting video work reflects the project in its current state, suspended in the time of a global pandemic.