Nocturnal Beaver

Nocturnal Beaver was a 5-day endurance installation and accumulating sculpture that combined notions of ecology, feminism, body art, endurance performance, collective work, disruption, and radical sex-positivity. Conceived and executed by J Dellecave in collaboration with cinematographer Sarolta Jane Vay, Nocturnal Beaver aimed to represent collaborative work projects typical of queer trans-inclusive spaces (think Work Hard Stay Hard), create an unpredictable disruption of flow similar to how a beaver dam disrupts the flow of water (think disaster aesthetics of the Salton Sea), and present a flagrant pants-off celebration of dyke sexuality (think Untitled Feminist Art Show for five days—with paper mache beaver head). Dellecave carried out beaver-dam-building activities each night from midnight to 5am. The beaver’s activities predominantly consisted of gathering and collecting items left in the MIX festival space either intentionally or incidentally (i.e., any trash, sweaters, cell phone, detritus, boots, offerings from other artists, etc.). The beaver’s nocturnal activities were captured on video and then replayed at a sped up rate on a loop within the installation. Each day the dam and the documentary video increased in size and volume. Nocturnal Beaver documents that which was left behind and that which happens in the wee hours of the night, while poking fun at the animalization of body parts and literally intervening nightly with a beaver.