I found myself in a precarious situation at Ox-Bow this summer. My job is the best- not only do I get paid to live in Shangri-La all summer, but we, the staff are provided with room and board AND a modest studio. Idyllic, right? Actually… after 12 entire summers here I have certain issues that remain sacrosanct to my well being in this intensely social environment. Primarily the need for privacy is crucial for me to maintain my well being at camp. I happen to live in one of the more remote cabins on campus, so when I began to hear rumblings prior to the season opening that a new cabin was to be raised behind my place- my place on the perimeter of campus, as far back as camp goes with only one neighbor to my left- I felt threatened. Fortunately the powers that be (read: my good friends) dodged a bullet on that one and offered to let me use this new cabin as my studio. And of course, what’s my first impulse- to open the space up as a gathering place. Y’all should know by now that I don’t really do studios, preferring instead to let social forms dictate the use function of spaces. And what a weird studio- a cabin?! But I had to ask myself- do I really want to advertise some sort of cafe or party zone type of experience back in my sacred, serene woods? Aw hell to the no. So what to do with this cabin? Use it as a cabin, clearly. I got to thinking about privacy, antithetical to the typical perception of what it means to be social. Yet, sociability might not be possible (or at the very least healthy) without the repast of privacy, a kind of cognizant sleep, aloneness. And here at this art camp- 100 bodies crammed into 20 acres- you can’t even have your morning cup of tea without facing at least a handful of social encounters, sometimes you can’t even relieve yourself in the morning without some sort interaction standing in your way, its maddening. And I, privileged I, get to hide out in my remote bungalow removed from the day to day, a luxury afforded to only a chosen few “senior” staff members. I got thinking about my time as a student here- assigned to a dorm style room with a randomly chosen room mate, sleeping together, eating together, in class with a dozen other people all day, no day off! That’s the real shit. Granted most students are only here for a few weeks as opposed to the entire season. But I do remember how suffocating it could feel without a moment of alone time. So it made perfect sense for me to share the cabin, open it up for allotted time periods during the week, give the public the gift of one hour of privacy. I think folks mostly signed up for the free cookies, though aloneness in such a social world is precious.
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