Durational Package (2008) was part of artist-writer Mark Greenwood’s Red Ape Arts series titled Proximity Effect, a three-weekend event in which a different artist created durational work each weekend. I participated in the final weekend. When I arrived, the space was filled with the remnants and outcomes of the previous two weekends. Each artist’s process built upon the traces left behind by the last. However, I had not witnessed any of the previous weekends, so I entered the space without any preconceived notions of what had come before. I could only respond to the space and the objects that remained.

I brought with me a pile of used flattened cardboard boxes, unsure of their use but sensing they might become useful. During the bus ride to the venue, I reflected on the nature of durational work—the role of the artist as performer or responder, and how decisions are often shaped by the need to convey or express something. There is an unspoken pressure to create objects that appear thoughtful, clever, or intentional—choices that may reflect ego, or the desire to be seen, liked, or respected. Even when the artist doesn’t fully understand the meaning of the work, the act of doing is often enough to create significance. Any action has meaning. Even the act of clearing away the past—of packing up previous meanings—becomes a meaningful gesture in itself.

Over two days, working eight hours each day, I decided to pack everything up. I labeled the boxes carefully, attempting to assign order, interpretation, or at least some traceable logic to what had been left behind. I wanted to ease the burden on those who managed the space, to archive what had happened, or at the very least, make the space inhabitable again. In the end, I even made a box for myself—becoming part of the packaging of the event.

This act became both absurd and reflective. It questioned the authority of meaning, the illusion of coherence in artistic processes, and our tendency to look for significance where perhaps there is none. Through the abstract and practical gesture of packing, I attempted to make sense of the space, the objects, and the performative roles we play within them.