day 134
there was dancing and headphones and binoculars.
I've put a longer description in the comments section...
it was a duet with arun, an australian choreographer now living in madrid...
posted by clare in paris at
17:25
Sunday, 10 August 2008
there was dancing and headphones and binoculars.
I've put a longer description in the comments section...
it was a duet with arun, an australian choreographer now living in madrid...
there was dancing and headphones and binoculars.
I've put a longer description in the comments section...
it was a duet with arun, an australian choreographer now living in madrid...
3 Comments:
Oh come ONNNNN! You've got to give us more than that!...
Eeek, did the audience get more than that?
fair enough.
well, I left signs around cité inviting people to come to a 'open studio performance' at 11am & 4pm on sunday. I told them it would last half an hour, that it was a 'durational' work so they could stay or go when they wanted, and that they should use the binoculars & headphones provided.
then, outside in the carpark that is opposite my studio, I set up four chairs : one had 'arun's text' + a set of headphones, one had 'clare's text' + a set of headphones, one said 'perhaps you want to see closer?' + binoculars, and the last one was a comfy lounge chair.
and then we started. We opened the doors and the music started and we sat, we rolled cigarettes, we danced, we wrote on our selves and each other, I washed arun’s hair, he cut my hair, I swept the floor, we drank water, and then we danced again – together and separately.
there were three pieces of philip glass music. emotional, calm, beautiful. and in between them were long silences where I had recorded the ambient sounds outside my studio: talking, people walking past, aeroplanes, the odd car, workmen, other artists working. so the structure began with arun and I working around this music and these silences.
but the headphones were different. We had recorded personal things, revealing things, private things on a track that lasted the duration of the work (31 minutes). we had also chosen two pieces of music each that reflected us that played during the ‘silences’. so when you put on the headphones you had another entire soundtrack that blended with what you were hearing from the speakers. you heard us talking about ourselves while you were watching us revealing ourselves.
the text we wrote on our bodies sometimes reflected what was said in the soundtrack, sometimes not. if you used the binoculars you could read that text. If you didn’t it was too small.
the audience sat outside, in the carpark, listing to us, watching us in our studio.
not everyone got to hear or see everything but they could choose how they wanted to experience it and had to negotiate with the other audience for the headphones or the binoculars. so there was talking and explaining in the audience too.
and then it ended.
after we had revealed ourselves. and they had watched us.
a friend took some photos so I’ll put that up in the next day or so. today I might have a quiet cup of tea. this body isn’t used to dancing or performing. I am, yet again, amazed at the skills those of you have who do this all the time…
Wow, I love the sound of it. Everyone took home a different piece of art. You make it sound very civilised and calm, too! Maybe it's just Arun's serene face...
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