The term ‘evolutionary strait jacket’ refers to a life-form’s inability to adapt to changing environments, thus facing possible extinction. It can also refer to a unique or particular evolutionary adaptation that renders a creature dependent for survival on an endemic environment.
The Strait Jacket is part installation, part performance space, part science museum. Set within a pop up augmented ‘wild’ venue, powered with kinetic energy and housing an array of extinct animal costumes/ totems, the project aims to encourage audiences to channel the disappearing wild and belt out karaoke pop songs that are lyrically and surprisingly rich with tales of evolution (such as Suzie Quatro’s ‘Hey Charly’ or Motorheads’ ‘Line in the Sand’).
The Strait Jacket aims to create a playful performance space where the audience can re-frame and imagine how a future might look when the past is acknowledged in both celebration and lamentation, bringing together the curious combination of science, history, pop and performance. This project responds to the pathos of domestication and captivity, juxtaposed by the untamed, wild and mythological. Within this process of creative development I may discover that failure and disconnect are in fact underlying themes of the work.