The Strand performance was created by Amy Königbauer and Honi Ryan to explore how vulnerability can be investigated in performance and by performing bodies. While two people support each other’s body weight in the fabric, they are blind to their surroundings. The performers in The Strand feel each movement that the other person makes and they maintain eye contact during the performance, though this part of the experience is invisible to the viewer.

The Strand has been performed in galleries and in both urban and rural landscapes to explore how the environment impacts the work, it’s been seen in New York City, various places in Vermont, California, Finland, Germany, and more. Most often, The Strand is performed by two people as a living sculpture but sometimes the piece includes a participatory element where the audience is invited into the work. 2016-ongoing.

A new iteration of this work, Expanded Strand, was performed on September 8th, 2018 at the The Carving Studio & Sculpture Center in West Rutland.

Photo credit for the black and white image on this page to George Angelovski.