Upon receiving her Master of Fine Arts in performance and interactive media at Brooklyn College, Chloë Bass began The Bureau of Self-Recognition (2011–13), a wide-ranging project that documents the process of self-exploration through photography, performance, video, audio, lectures, workshops, and structured conversations. Beginning with a five-phase photographic research project Practice of the Daily, The Bureau of Self-Recognition has taken multiple forms, including as a Free Consultation program (2011–13), a series of performances between the artist and other individuals; The Bank of Self-Recognition (2012), where the artist created a currency that measured the value of oneself; and Tea Will Be Served (2011), a performance involving pairs of participants engaging and responding to a series of questions. This work encapsulates Bass’s belief that “it is through self-recognition that we shape our worlds,” and laid the foundation for her further explorations of intimacy.
