Occupying buildings changes us. Often people move through them habitually and do not notice the subtle ways in which they participate in who we become. To explore this observation, the projects under this title all have an extreme spatial condition that breaks the habits of those who occupy them.

Bodies and buildings both change, the former usually more quickly than the latter. The instructions for performances contained under this heading slow those who follow them down to the speed of a building often catching them in a looping task that can continue longer than the performer will live.

Since 2007, the Alex Schweder + Ward Shelley have designed, built, and lived in structures in locations where the public are invited not only to witness, but also to actively engage with the artists in direct dialogue about their practice—an activity that has coalesced into what they call “performance architecture.”