A Sort of Joy (Thousands of Exhausted Things) was a collaboration between Elevator Repair Service Theater and The Office for Creative Research (Jer Thorp, Mark Hansen, and Ben Rubin).

A Sort of Joy was performed throughout MoMA's 2nd floor permanent collection galleries during normal museum hours in a series of 45 minute performance cycles. The text for the performance was drawn entirely from MoMA's database, which lists the title, artist, materials, dimensions, and other data for each of the 123,951 objects in the museum's collections.

Using unique scripts generated for each cycle, the collective patterns, idiosyncrasies and secrets of MoMA’s collections were enacted by Elevator Repair Service company members. The audience experienced the sound of the live multi-room performance through wireless headphones. 

Press: Cultured Digital, Visionaire World

Software Design & Operation by Mark Hansen, Ellery Royston, Jer Thorp

Sound Design by Ben Rubin

Stage Manager: Mo Lioce

Project Manager: Sarah Hughes

Photos: flic.kr/s/aHskfMuuwW

This project is part of MoMA’s Artists Experiment, an annual initiative in the Department of Education that brings together contemporary artists in dialogue with MoMA educators to conceptualize ideas for developing innovative and experimental public interactions, and is made possible by Paula and Jim Crown.