pretend to pray: karaoke uses the familiar format of the karaoke video to convey a performance score for the audience, focusing on a commonly mis-heard lyric in the song California Dreamin. What does it mean to “pretend to pray” in a church, theatre, gallery or karaoke bar? What is the difference between pretending and doing, performance and everyday life, the sacred and the secular?
Pretend to Pray started as a performance score created for the Reykjavik Dance Festival’s Global City/Local City Lab, a collaboration with fellow lab artist Erik DeLuca, who was in the studio in Reykjavik. Erik suggested we use the sound system in the studio and asked me to send a recording. I chose California Dreamin' because I was visiting California and it is about someone sheltered inside a cold environment dreaming about somewhere warm. I was surprised to find that the original lyrics included "I got down on my knees and I pretend to pray" though in the original recording of the song it says "I began to pray." (which is the way I remembered it until I looked it up)
Erik played the song in the room and we invited everyone to "pretend to pray"
We discussed what it could mean to "pretend to pray." How is that different than praying? How are we pretending now?
Since the residency I have continued this project, finding places and moments for myself to “pretend to pray” in secular and sacred locations and documenting the site. I ask people of different faiths as well as those who are not part of any organized religion what prayer means to them, and if they think the experience of prayer can be felt in different ways (for example being in nature or in a theatre.)
