my world is empty without you (2009)
Monday, May 18th, 2009“..the show made me notice the beauty and cinematic elegance of everyday life itself” – SuitYourself Magazine
The first subtlemob was created as part of this piece.
Originally commissioned by
What happens when everyone in the city is listening to the same song?
Wearing headphones, you begin to travel across the city, the soundtrack in your ears turning the world around into your personal cinema. Suddenly a stranger stops you and puts a hand on your shoulder. Their lips don’t move but in your ears you can somehow hear their voice. It feels like telepathy as they begin to speak the words to the song that’s playing in their head…
You continue to move across the city, sometimes guided, sometimes alone; as events unfold in front of you it becomes harder to tell which are staged and which are real.
Built using , the audience were given handheld computers with headphones. The music score they heard was controlled by satellite positioning and changed to reflect the physical location of the audience. Some performers carried battery powered wifi beacons in their pockets. When they were near an audience member the device carried by the audience would play a recording of that performers voice, the effect was like being able to hear a persons thoughts. Another group of performers were a ’subtlemob’, who roamed the streets following instructions given to them on an MP3 player, they performed everyday actions around the audience, creating a sense of deja-vu as you saw similar events occuring all around you.
SOUNDTRACK BY DUNCAN SPEAKMAN SARAH ANDERSON
DEVISED AND PERFORMED WITH TOM WAINRIGHT MARTHA KING ALEX BRADLEY EMMA BUSH SITA CALVERT-ENNALS
COMMISSIONED BY AND
SUPPORTED BY BUILT WITH
VIDEO DOCUMENTATION DEB HEARNE
GRATITUDE TO (AND INSPIRATION FROM) CLARE REDDINGTON HELEN COLE TOM MELAMED BEN CLAYTON KATE YEDIGAROFF MATTHEW AUSTIN JO CUTHBERT GENEVIEVE BROWN VANESSA BELLAAR SPRUIJT PHOEBE DAVIES
FOR JANICE
