Questions For a Dinosaur
Description
Rachel Garber Cole’s projects are character-based, nonlinear narratives that undermine notions of authority and objectivity. Her performances utilize constructed sets, often made from household and craft materials, which foster a sense of play and levity. Questions for a Dinosaur is a project of multiple iterations in which Cole stages conversations about climate change between herself and a papier-mâché triceratops head. In the live performance and video production, Cole takes on various identities including a girl scout, house wife, and meteorologist, and asks 104 questions concerning extinction to a silent individual wearing the blue dinosaur head. Cole then posed as the dinosaur for 52 photographs printed with select questions from the original performance. Through the evolving questions, Cole articulates unspoken fears about climate change. By having these conversations with a dinosaur, Cole not only connects climate change to previous iterations of extinction in a fruitless attempt to gain wisdom from the dinosaur, but also approaches an existential dialogue with humor rather than foreboding sensationalism or blame.
Rachel Garber Cole is a multimedia artist based in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Macalester College (St. Paul, Minnesota) in 2007 with a BA in Theatre Arts, Cole moved to New York City where she has since focused on performance, video, and sculptural works. Cole creates theatrical and socially engaged works that “articulate the interior experiences of shame, anxiety and desire and how these feelings intersect with public politics and social institutions.” In order to create such vocabularies, Cole’s projects are character-based narratives with non-linear storytelling that undermine notions of authority and objectivity, allowing for the exploration of complicated and intersectional themes. Cole’s performances utilize constructed sets, often made from household and craft materials, which foster a sense of play and levity, encouraging engagement with existential themes.
Rachel Garber Cole is a multimedia artist based in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Macalester College (St. Paul, Minnesota) in 2007 with a BA in Theatre Arts, Cole moved to New York City where she has since focused on performance, video, and sculptural works. Cole creates theatrical and socially engaged works that “articulate the interior experiences of shame, anxiety and desire and how these feelings intersect with public politics and social institutions.” In order to create such vocabularies, Cole’s projects are character-based narratives with non-linear storytelling that undermine notions of authority and objectivity, allowing for the exploration of complicated and intersectional themes. Cole’s performances utilize constructed sets, often made from household and craft materials, which foster a sense of play and levity, encouraging engagement with existential themes.
Creator
Rachel Garber Cole
Date
2017/2020
Files
Collection
Citation
Rachel Garber Cole, “Questions For a Dinosaur,” Contemporary Art Purchasing Program - Stamp Gallery, accessed May 17, 2024, https://contemporaryartumd.artinterp.org/omeka/items/show/143.