Wiggle Script

Billboard September/October, 2021
Digital through 2022

Wiggle Script is a participatory new media project by Laura McCoy, curated by Lucas Regazzi. The project evolved in stages; initially it was a call for video submissions, accompanied by a billboard at AKA Artist-Run. The billboard highlighted McCoy’s liberated approach to drawing; oozes and marks make a visceral visual language, toggling access and play.

In the call, the artist provided short prompts for movement, termed “wiggle scripts”, meant to elicit some kind of catharsis or relief or joy in its participants. There were four to choose from, each with their own set of instructions.

1. A POSE AND SOME MOVES LIKE A CHAMPION OR GODDESS.
The right knee bends and the toe points. Your shoulders take turns lifting and releasing while your hands flip and your head rolls.

2. LIKE A POP IN THE HOLE, TO THE HOLE.
Make two onion shapes: one with your legs and one with your arms, one on top of the other. For two beats hold this pose, then switch to quick punches directly into the bottom onion.

3. FOLLOW THE ARM IT KNOWS WHAT’S BEST.
Keep your left arm cradled in front of your stomach while your right arm swings around the body a little too fast, cutting through the air in the front and then the back, over and over, with the hips moving to the right each time the arm retreats.

4. ACKNOWLEDGE THE SKY.
Move as though you are a tree trying to talk to god. Cross your legs and keep them crossed for the wiggle’s duration.

With a phone camera, artists recorded themselves wiggling to a script of their liking, and submitted it for use in this digital collage about connection, grief and ritual on the Internet. Visit wigglescript.akaartistrun.com to view the project!

Laura McCoy

 Laura McCoy (b. 1981) lives and works in Toronto. Her practice spans a variety of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, and performance. McCoy has exhibited work in both Canada and the United States since 2010; recent exhibitions include the Toronto Biennial of Art (2019) and Calaboose, Montreal (2019). McCoy holds a BFA in Sculpture and Installation from OCADU.

Lucas Regazzi

Lucas Regazzi (b. 1995) lives and works in Brooklyn. All of his practices seek to loosen the strictures of procedure and language. He recently co-founded april april, a platform for emerging art and poetry housed within an apartment gallery. Recent exhibitions include Afternoon Projects, Vancouver (2020); In-Residence, Toronto (2020); and Zona Maco, Mexico City (2020).