Upon first viewing My New Theater VI, Good Night Good Morning ’06, Joan Jonas appears to be fixing her eyes directly on the camera and, ultimately, the viewer. She routinely recites the same two phrases she spoke thirty years prior in Good Night Good Morning: “good morning” and “good night.” In this version, however, Jonas edited the final video to develop a more cohesive narrative. Even more importantly, in the final edition it is apparent she is looking into the camera via a convex mirror. She further distorts the interior space of the work by presenting it in a long, narrow wooden box from which her mirrored image appears to look out to address the viewer. The use of a mirror is an homage to one of her earliest props, which was first seen in a performance series called Mirror Pieces, 1968–2004. With the introduction of her own reflection to the 2006 work presented here, Jonas reimagines her ritual as a conversation with herself as much as with her future audiences. About the variances between the two works, Jonas has stated, “The style of performance is straightforward as in the earlier version, but more playful or contrived, perhaps affected by experience of years of performing. . . . Now I play with editing of sound and image in a more complex way. While the soundtrack most often records the moment, I occasionally add fragments of sound from CBC radio and music by the composers David Lang and Morton Feldman. Finally Zina the dog is a major player/companion/comedian. As I grow older this comic element has become an important ingredient of the work.”

Label from Joan Jonas: Good Night Good Morning, January 16–May 1, 2016