Laura Milkins: The Basics

Born and raised in small town Michigan, I grew accustomed to, and occasionally irritated by, everyone knowing my name, where I lived, who I hung out with, and probably what I had for breakfast any given morning.  This experience of community caring and nosiness taught me the important role community plays in creating identity and a sense of security.  Growing up, we never locked our doors and the biggest safety issues arose from the cleaning supplies under the sink and/or the matchbox hanging next to the back door.  Despite living in Madrid, New York, Boston, and now Mexico City, I am inherently a small town girl.

This small town girl is walking the largest avenue in the world, across the second largest city on the planet.  I hope to share the simple, human, intimate experience of walking and storytelling with the people I meet along the way.

All of my performances involve entrusting my audience, online and in person, with my identity and/or personal safety.  Most recently, I gave over my entire person to my online audience in “Perfect Woman Project”.  I invited men from online dating services to describe their perfect woman and post it on my website.  The public voted for their favorite submission and then I changed my appearance, personality, and lifestyle to fit the winning description.  The project culminated in a series of dates live-online with the winner.  Contrary to most expectations, the entries were sweet, sincere and more about matters of the heart than freakish sexual acts.

Over the years, I have continually expanded trust with my audience and increased their level of participation with every project.  These projects include spending six months transforming myself into Paris Hilton and then performing acts of giving in an attempt to reform her into a better role model, inviting my friends and colleagues to “Dress Me Sexy” and asking everyone I encountered of the opposite sex to assess the results, living in the Dinnerware Contemporary Arts Gallery as an “Art Servant” and making artwork live-online from requests received via email, and giving away artwork for “Free Art: everything I made my first year in grad school” with the request that the new owner give away something they value every six months.  I am not sure what happens with my artwork after I send it out in the world, but I believe there is power in the simple act of extending trust to my audience.

In our ever expanding cities and increasingly limited resources, across the barriers of language, race, class, money and belief systems, I hope human beings can continue to find a way to share our stories and extend trust to the people who inhabit our daily lives.  With my performances I hope to create a moment of trust, caring and connection with my audience, and to share my vision of a small town world.

You can reach me at my email

Or visit my website at www.lauramilkins.com