The Christmas Eve Series
Annual Instagram Live performance series, 2020-ongoing
Performed 24 December (annually)
What started as a reflection and creative expression of Boettcher's feelings and questions around holidays (see Dear Christmas Eve 2013: Fuck you...and thank you.) has become her own annual tradition: a virtual performance set on 24 December (Christmas Eve). In an attempt to allow for accessibility, meeting one wherever one resides (internally, externally, etc), Boettcher explores virtual performance and her expanding inquiries, sentiments, and experiences of and around holidays, evolving each years' performance alongside her audience and personal circumstances, creative practice, and authentic becoming.
performance announcements pictured above
stills from each performance documentation and specific performance descriptions below
Annual Instagram Live performance series, 2020-ongoing
Performed 24 December (annually)
What started as a reflection and creative expression of Boettcher's feelings and questions around holidays (see Dear Christmas Eve 2013: Fuck you...and thank you.) has become her own annual tradition: a virtual performance set on 24 December (Christmas Eve). In an attempt to allow for accessibility, meeting one wherever one resides (internally, externally, etc), Boettcher explores virtual performance and her expanding inquiries, sentiments, and experiences of and around holidays, evolving each years' performance alongside her audience and personal circumstances, creative practice, and authentic becoming.
performance announcements pictured above
stills from each performance documentation and specific performance descriptions below
Silent Night: A -Family-(?) Xmas
Instagram Live performance, approx 32 minutes, 2022
As part of The Christmas Eve Series
While historically experiencing the majority of holidays and celebrations alone, Boettcher has occasionally found herself a guest to others'. But can she ever truly belong in such settings? Exploring the meaning of family and genuine belonging, Boettcher spent the evening with her Swiss Family...or did she? A silent performance, Boettcher took the audience from the dark weight of being silenced and isolation to a personal liberation (still questioning and solidifying its feet) as she prepared herself for an evening with herself, the viewer, and a potential gathering. The camera close and focused solely on her, Boettcher interacted with (an) unheard and unseen other(s)—her facial expressions, body language, and location leaving the audience questioning her surroundings and company.
TRAILER
Instagram Live performance, approx 32 minutes, 2022
As part of The Christmas Eve Series
While historically experiencing the majority of holidays and celebrations alone, Boettcher has occasionally found herself a guest to others'. But can she ever truly belong in such settings? Exploring the meaning of family and genuine belonging, Boettcher spent the evening with her Swiss Family...or did she? A silent performance, Boettcher took the audience from the dark weight of being silenced and isolation to a personal liberation (still questioning and solidifying its feet) as she prepared herself for an evening with herself, the viewer, and a potential gathering. The camera close and focused solely on her, Boettcher interacted with (an) unheard and unseen other(s)—her facial expressions, body language, and location leaving the audience questioning her surroundings and company.
TRAILER
-A-Holiday- My Time with Me: a performance
Instagram Live performance with accompanying soundtrack, approx 12 minutes, 2021
As part of The Christmas Eve Series
Holidays hold many tensions and questions in Boettcher's heart. From birthdays, major life events, and personal milestones to the holidays of her upbringing, local holidays and celebrations in the various countries she has resided; Boettcher has spent the majority of such days alone throughout her adult life—2021 being no exception. As she de-indoctrinates, navigates, explores, and learns about her internal world and the world around her, the holiday pressures and traditions of her childhood and culture resonate less and less. Which days, feelings, and sentiments does she desire to uphold, adopt, and/or evolve as she is now? What would it look like to create her own traditions? Customs? Rituals? Holidays and celebrations? Continuing the inquiries from the year prior to establish her new-found performance tradition, Boettcher questioned and experimented in how she desires to spend a holiday. Set to a jolted soundtrack of various convoluted Christmas songs and Bible verses, she confronted the mélange of conflicting feelings and experiences around holidays—the celebration, escapism, disassociation, acceptance, (self-)love, and overwhelming despair, reflecting on the pain and loneliness weathered toward empowerment and ease.
Instagram Live performance with accompanying soundtrack, approx 12 minutes, 2021
As part of The Christmas Eve Series
Holidays hold many tensions and questions in Boettcher's heart. From birthdays, major life events, and personal milestones to the holidays of her upbringing, local holidays and celebrations in the various countries she has resided; Boettcher has spent the majority of such days alone throughout her adult life—2021 being no exception. As she de-indoctrinates, navigates, explores, and learns about her internal world and the world around her, the holiday pressures and traditions of her childhood and culture resonate less and less. Which days, feelings, and sentiments does she desire to uphold, adopt, and/or evolve as she is now? What would it look like to create her own traditions? Customs? Rituals? Holidays and celebrations? Continuing the inquiries from the year prior to establish her new-found performance tradition, Boettcher questioned and experimented in how she desires to spend a holiday. Set to a jolted soundtrack of various convoluted Christmas songs and Bible verses, she confronted the mélange of conflicting feelings and experiences around holidays—the celebration, escapism, disassociation, acceptance, (self-)love, and overwhelming despair, reflecting on the pain and loneliness weathered toward empowerment and ease.
Dear Christmas Eve 2013: Fuck you…and thank you.
Instagram Live performance, approx 1 hour, 2020
As part of The Christmas Eve Series
Inspired by a notably horrible Christmas Eve in 2013 that aided in tarnishing her disposition toward holidays (and celebrations in general), Boettcher undertook a sombre ritual that evoked and bastardized her Catholic roots in an attempt to heal and cleanse herself of its deeply-ingrained pain and trauma. Beginning in total darkness, an eerie soundtrack of Boettcher singing and disjointedly playing traditional Christmas hymns on an out-of-tune piano ignited the performance. Methodical and reverent, she proceeded to light a ring of candles that outlined a large sheet of paper, her body positioned as its nucleus. Surrounded by the flames, Boettcher repetitively wrote an illegible 'prayer' with increasing zeal. The words overlapping and smeared, Boettcher tiring, she finally rose to kneel amidst her purge before placing three bowls of water at her knees. Carefully, purposefully, she raised a bowl above her head and poured its contents over her and the words below, repeating with each bowl. Cleansed yet marked from her ritual's acts, Boettcher rose and exited the circle and frame.
Instagram Live performance, approx 1 hour, 2020
As part of The Christmas Eve Series
Inspired by a notably horrible Christmas Eve in 2013 that aided in tarnishing her disposition toward holidays (and celebrations in general), Boettcher undertook a sombre ritual that evoked and bastardized her Catholic roots in an attempt to heal and cleanse herself of its deeply-ingrained pain and trauma. Beginning in total darkness, an eerie soundtrack of Boettcher singing and disjointedly playing traditional Christmas hymns on an out-of-tune piano ignited the performance. Methodical and reverent, she proceeded to light a ring of candles that outlined a large sheet of paper, her body positioned as its nucleus. Surrounded by the flames, Boettcher repetitively wrote an illegible 'prayer' with increasing zeal. The words overlapping and smeared, Boettcher tiring, she finally rose to kneel amidst her purge before placing three bowls of water at her knees. Carefully, purposefully, she raised a bowl above her head and poured its contents over her and the words below, repeating with each bowl. Cleansed yet marked from her ritual's acts, Boettcher rose and exited the circle and frame.