“The Obscure: A Performative Work in Two Parts” was a work for my doctorate. It coincided with the one day of the year where the city’s colleges open their doors to the public. The title comes from the Thomas Hardy novel “Jude the Obscure” about an autodidact stonemason who has aspirations to attend Oxford (called Christminster in the book). The first part of the work invites participants to learn the basics of stone carving from a local stonemason while wearing a sticker naming them “The Obscure”. The second part of the work invited participants to choose from a selection of lectures to listen to while touring three of the college quads. The lecture’s subjects ranged from theatre of the oppressed to visual anthropology.
Steven Duval 