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View Photos AVAILABLE FOR TOURING Downloads Photos: Darren O'Donnell |
Haircuts by Children - Los Angeles Featuring students from Luther Burbank Middle School, Los Angeles Supervising Stylists: Christie Honsburger Sponsored by José Huizar, Councilmember, District 14 Haircuts by Children is a whimsical performance that playfully engages with the enfranchisement of children, trust in the younger generation, and the thrills and chills of vanity. Students from Luther Burbank Middle School, between the ages of ten and twelve, offered members of the public free haircuts, in hair salons in Highland Park on October 14 and 15, 2006 as part of Outpost for Contemporary Arts Fair Trade Festival. Haircuts by Children invites the consideration of children as creative and competent individuals whose aesthetic choices can be trusted. The idea that kids should be allowed to cut our hair evokes the same leap of faith, courage and understanding required to grant children deeper citizenship rights. For many it is actually less terrifying to contemplate allowing kids to vote! In the future, every child will be given a pair of scissors and invited to shape our destinies. In the future, every child will be granted full citizenship rights; encouraged to vote, run for office and drive streetcars. In the future, children will teach and adults will learn; a playground will be built on every battlefield; and candy will be free. In the future, children will be powerful creatures able to cross the street without looking both ways, and hold their breath underwater forever and ever and ever. So, while Haircuts by Children is a performance for kids, it is actually for the benefit of who they will become; for the adults who have to deal with the consequences of eighteen years of political disenfranchisement. Haircuts by Children: a performance about the future. Press Hair today is art tomorrow I'm sitting in Amanda Biber's Grade 5/6 class at Parkdale Public
School surrounded by 10- and 11-year-olds wielding scissors, hair
clips and spray bottles. What appears to be a child-labour sweatshop
is actually a rehearsal/training session for Haircuts by Children, an
interactive performance piece in which children 10 to 12 years old
invade Toronto salons over the next few weeks to give free haircuts to
anyone adventurous enough to allow them to do so.
www.theglobeandmail.com Running With Scissors In books (Social Acupuncture, Your Secrets Sleep With Me), performance
art (Diplomatic Immunities) and plays (A Suicide-Site Guide to the
City), artist Darren O'Donnell has tried to do one simple thing-get
people to talk to one another. As interested in removing social
inhibitions as he is in producing unique forms of art and
entertainment, O'Donnell has created situations in which strangers
interact in the public sphere. In his latest project, Haircuts by
Children, O'Donnell rounded up a group of 10-year-olds and trained
them to cut hair; throughout May they're offering free trims to anyone
who wants one. O'Donnell's point? To illustrate that kids are creative
and competent individuals whose aesthetic-and, by extension,
political-choices should be trusted. Scary or sublime? Make yourself
an appointment and find out.
www.torontolife.com DO YOU TRUST THIS YOUNG MAN? Lauren DeMers, 10, concentrates intently as she smoothes another section of Brenda Gladstone's hair and carefully begins trimming. Noticeably absent is the typical banter between hair stylist and client. In fact, on this Saturday afternoon at Cuts 4 U on the Danforth, there isn't much chit-chat. It is, after all, the first time any of the stylists have cut hair. Plus, the oldest among them is only 11 years old. Outside, more children are sitting at a table, selling lemonade and helping to promote playwright, actor and performance artist Darren O'Donnell's latest project, Haircuts by Children. Their afternoon has involved back-to-back appointments with adults willing to put their hair in the hands of kids with scissors. "In the future, every child will be given a pair of scissors and invited to shape our destinies," reads the brochure for the event. O'Donnell approached a class at Parkdale Public School to take part in
the performance. "Most of the people didn't do it because their
parents said 'no' somehow, but my parents are OK with it," explains
Tenzin Samten, 11. "I was nervous at first. My hands were shaking. But
the second time was easy."
eye.net Kids cut hair on purpose at performance art events Apr. 27, 2006 "It's conceptual art," said Darren O'Donnell, MDR's artistic director,
explaining the event examines the role young people under 18 play in
society as non-voters despite being significant consumers. Haircuts By
Children is also symbolic in that today's youth will one day be the
ones cutting and trimming and shaping Canada's future.
www.insidetoronto.com Building trust IT'S HARD for many people to step into a hair salon and let a total
stranger take over their crowning glory, but how many would be willing
to trust their locks to the inexperienced hands of a preteen? Sarah
Robayo Sheridan - and her thick, wavy black mane - checked vanity at
the door and signed up to be the first person to get a free haircut
from a 10-year-old who had cut only the hair of dolls previously. "I'm
going to let them do whatever they want ... Hair grows back," Robayo
Sheridan, 27, said with a grin. "A free haircut is always appealing." |
