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Oakley Boycott has a lot to say for someone who sits silently for a living.
“I can talk about that ad nauseam, but I very much don’t utilize it as what most people would call a meditative practice,” she said of her piece, “Silence.”
The act she’s bringing to Jackson is simple only on its surface: sitting still in a chair for a really long time.
If you’re wondering if going without food, water, bathroom breaks or rarely moving for up to 12 hours hurts, it does.
“The pain that you feel or the endurance that you have to push, that’s where some very cool magic stuff can happen for a body and for a person,” she told KHOL in advance of the show.
You may have heard of this stunt. It’s directly inspired by conceptual and performance artist Marina Abramović’s act, “The artist is present.”
In 2010, Abramović sat nearly motionless for nearly eight hours a day, six days a week for three months. In a chair opposite her, anyone could sit and share a minute of sustained eye contact.
Nine years later, when Boycott was enrolled in an acting class in New York City, videos from Abramović’s performance at the Museum of Modern Art surfaced on her social media feed. Her Meisner technique class around that time was intense. At one point, Boycott remembers crumpling in the corner, crying. Her coach approached her.
“And he goes, ‘You don’t know how to leave yourself alone,’” Boycott said.
She started looking for that aloneness in a gallery with a chair across from her, sitting for 12 hours straight.
In 2020 she brought the act — complete with the same bright red, floor-length, long-sleeved dress – to Wyoming’s Sinks Canyon State Park.
Until Sept. 22, Boycott is sitting across from an empty chair and whomever fills that chair in the lobby of Jackson’s Pink Garter Theatre during Tumblefest.
Andrew Munz is the founding artistic director of the host organization, Tumbleweed Creative Arts. Bringing in Boycott is a way for him to lean into discomfort.
When the Jackson native looks around, he sees a lot of wildlife art, landscape art and bronze statues.
“It’s things that are palatable to a Jackson palette,” Munz said. “Everything’s pretty safe.”
Tumblefest features over 40 artists over four days. It kicked off with live storytelling from rescuers and rescuees of Teton County’s Search and Rescue team. The next few days feature a showcase of local songwriters, a circus workshop, a new musical from local artists, a morning of art-making and mindful movement and a short film showcase, including Munz.
Munz gained notoriety for his comedy acts like “I Can Ski Forever” and caricature “Your girl Catherine,” ripping on ski town culture and wealth.
“Tumbleweed: Dispatches from the Inequality State” is a one-man show Munz hasn’t yet shared with his hometown crowd.
“It is the story of my own struggles with growing up gay in Wyoming, trying to figure out my identity, battling depression, [and] learning how to use art as a way to propel myself forward and not just sink,” he said.
All Tumblefest events cost $10 and are alcohol-free. That’s an initiative Tumbleweed started this year, also in the name of risk.
“People look at us when I say that we’re going alcohol free and they’re like, ‘Oh, you idiots, why not capitalize on the alcohol?’” Munz.
Instead, Munz is direct about Jackson’s drinking problem. In Teton County, alcohol was involved in 80% of the arrests made in 2024, one of the highest percentages in the state, according to a report from the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police.
The move isn’t about vilifying drinking, Munz said. It’s rather a way to create a different kind of environment in the Pink Garter Theatre, one that is safe for everyone, including performers.
“It’s not a place where we’re just going to party all the time. We will party, but it’s just a different approach,” Munz said.
Boycott is closing out Tumblefest Sunday night, taking questions and comments from the audience, including those who sat across from her.
Those who choose to sit down across from Boycott this weekend could have booze in their hand. But they might feel what Boycott describes as a different kind of buzz. She discovered locking eyes for the first time with someone sitting across from her while performing “Silence.”
“Oh my God,” she recalled thinking.“This is like the best drug I’ve ever, never done. And I need to figure out how to do this every day for the rest of my life.”
