It's a Wonderful Life

performa_lifeexchange.jpg

Haven't we all wondered what it would be like to live someone else's life? To wear their clothes, live in their apartment, drive their car--basically to see if someone else lives a life better than our own? This curiosity has an outlet in the latest project by WOOLOO, an artist-run organization based in Berlin that offers exhibition opportunities and practical tools for artists and curators. This week, as part of PERFORMA07, they have organized Life Exchange, a week-long performance which gives spectators the chance to swap lives with a stranger--more particularly, one of the ten artists commissioned by WOOLOO for the project. Curated by the legendary performance artist and curator Martha Wilson (Founding Director of Franklin Furnace), spectators are invited into the Chelsea, NY apartment of writer Nancy Weber, and after a series of steps anyone who wants can emerge with different clothes, different documents, and different apartment keys. At a time when issues of privacy and identity are constantly being debated in the public forum, Life Exchange requires an almost inconceivable level of trust. But on the lighter side, Life Exchange offers both the narcissist and the voyeur the opportunity to snoop, covet, or criticize the life of another.