Title: Dammsuga (Vacuum Opera)

Date: The Dammsuga (Vacuum Opera) was exhibited and preformed from September 14, 2019 - September 22, 2019 at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art.

Medium: Fabric, Concrete, Metal, Wood, Plastic, Fiberglass, Acrylic & Oil Paint.

Demensions: The portable sculpture of the "vacuum alter" art piece measured 8ft long by 5FT 5 IN Tall. All of Rausch's milagros inspired “body sculptures" varied in dimensions, yet their scale is comparable to the human body of both adults and children. 

Artwork Description: 

The Dammsuga (Vacuum Opera) was exhibited and performed from September 14, 2019 - September 22, 2019. The collaborators for this project were Dado Gyure, who devised the performance artwork, script and directed the actors; Elenna Sindler, who composed the musical opera; and myself, Samantha Rausch, the artist who created the sculptures and art installation for this collaborative performance artwork for the MCA's "Storefront Project." 

The Storefront Project asks six Chicago-based directors to devise a new project, tailor-made for both the MCA Chicago and Prop Thtr. This show was in celebration of Chicago's long traditions of storefront, underground, and devised theater. The exhibition was co-curated by MCA's associate curator of performance Tara Aisha Willis with Olivia Lilley, the artistic director of Chicago's own Prop Thtr. For more information on the MCA artists involved in the Storefront Project and a note from Ira S. Murfin

My focus for the Dammsuga (Vacuum Opera) was to create an art installation whose design expanded into a dynamic, immersive environment, capturing movement seen in a jazz funeral. The viewer becomes immersed in the performance art ceremonial journey, beginning from the MCA's loading dock and concluding this performance pilgrimage at the museum's main entrance.  

The Etymology of the artwork's title Dammsuga, in Swedish damm + suga is literally: to suck dust, and thus translates as a vacuum.  Now to me, a vacuum is a time capsule, for this object collects the detritus of our households. A vacuum holds the archeological remnants of dust that reveals much about our lifestyle and who we are. For encased within, dust is preserved, which uncovers our DNA within our skin cells, hair collected, fibers worn. The Vacuum Alter sculpture not only creates a space of contemplation but reminds me of relics holding the mortal remains of saints, for, inside a vacuum, it contains the remains of our time on earth. 

The Vacuum Alter I created was a portable sculpture, guiding the actors and the Body Sculptures all over the Museums' property. The sculpture's surface was adorned in a floral print of cerulean blue upholstery fabric and dyed blue suede leather. The rectangular structure of the Vacuum Alter was intentionally the dimensions of a standard adult coffin, acting as a shrine to the transformed everyday found objects of vacuums. These vacuums became sacred objects of commodity and desire. The Vacuum Alter projected "cleanliness is next to godliness," and the absurdist performance activated the sculpture, shining light on mundane human behaviors, such as cleanliness, consumerism, and sexualized fantasies with inanimate objects. 

The "Body Sculptures" Rausch designed and created were inspired by the healing charms Milagros first started to collect in 2007 when she lived in Tampa, Fl. In Spanish, the word milagro means miracle or surprise. The Milagros charms Rausch collected through the years were made of gold, silver and led in the shape of different body parts such as a leg or heart, symbolizing the healing of a romance; each charm form had a different meaning behind it. Rausch was inspired by the Milagros and created a series of artworks titled "Body Sculptures" based on such. Rausch's "Body Sculptures" melted human forms inspired by Milagros into a collaged mash-up of a series of surrealist exquisite corpse sculptures. Each body sculpture had multiple ligaments fused, mimicking the human bodies size of both adults and children alike. Rausch intentionally coated all sculptures in concrete to create a rich textured surface immortalizing the human form in stone. These statue-like sculptures were then painted with muted metallic hues of gold, silver, copper, burnt umber tones. These sculptures were designed to be carried by actors to symbolize healing ailments during a pandemic and visualizing the burdens we hold. The "Body Sculptures" series was first shown during the 2019 performance of Eugene Ionesco's "The Killing Game," directed by Dado Gyure at A Red Orchid Theater.