Borrowed Splendour uses an instructional script to create a meticulous study in the observation of human behavior. Like much of the artist’s work, the performance is informed by the artist’s study of linguistics and her initial career as a transla- tor for the police. Staged as a cinematic mis-en-scene, Borrowed Splendour loads the encounters between individuals with the freight of social exchange in such a way that every gesture hovers between convention and meaning.