Through my performance art video, I wanted to show the method in which prions propagate. I sought to display the progression of the prions propagating, as one misfolded prion approaches a normal protein, converts it, and approaches another normal one to duplicate the procedure over and over.
I remembered watching a video with finger movements in which skilled dancers perform not with their entire bodies and limbs as usual, but only with their hands, using their ten fingers. Although it would have been nice if I could have incorporated some of the dances we learned last class, I thought it would be more appropriate to use my ten fingers to show the prion propagation. One “misfolded prion” finger approaches another finger, changes it, and the process goes on until all ten fingers have been changed and are moving in strange and unsettling ways.
I think that this is such an endearing concept because many artists have used finger puppetry for dance, entertainment, and visual performance. Although I wish that I could see the video, I admire how the fingers can be utilized as multiple performers to indicate the propagation factor of the prion misfolding process.