The reality of the ‘kitchen cycle’…an evaluative response.

Site specific performance has given me the opportunity to explore material which would be futile if transformed to a black box studio or stage. To explore and create something without the theatrical limitations or instant audience preconceptions provides you with a plain, empty foundation for discovery.

“The presence of an audience is central to the definition of theatre, and the twentieth century saw an explosion of interest in the audience’s role among experimental theatre practitioners” (( Freshwater, Helen Theatre and Audience 2009, London: Palgrave Macmillan). ))

The kitchen provided me with a range of ideas which to begin with were instantly based around visualising images food and consumption. Audience preconceptions about kitchens and mine as performer were hard to stem away from. This challenging lane of thought however provoked me in to thinking about a kitchen were control was restricted or lost. I intended to remove this element of socialising which had been part of a kitchen’s heritage for centuries. I had to make audience respond to the kitchen differently. Going against the norm was a tricky performance idea when the site was set up so appropriately for social engagement and ease. This focus on the lack of control forced me to think about a kitchens purpose and function.

The sounds of a kitchen are what users find familiar. These audio ideas were created through simple experimentation with basic kitchen objects and creating the sounds of different aspects simultaneously. These basic ideas stemmed towards the final result and post production of these sounds. Listening to familiar noises on an audio device initiated a performance element instantly, focused around your senses. My sound manipulation coincided with the element of disorder to create an audio performance that consisted of familiar kitchen site noises collaborated, distorted and edited together to create an sense of digestion and lack of order. To make the listening more performative, features were added to the set to increase the feel of manipulated digestion and consumption.

Audiences’ responses to the soundscape varied. Due to the added sensory features and my chaotic consumption, audiences were forced to visualise the site with the added soundtrack to the performance. The headphones in most cases disabled the audience to converse, leaving the performance to be an individual encounter. Only you know what your body does, and it’s something that is rarely spoken about and so to graphically hear elements of contrasting audio sound clips reinforced the lack of control theme which was evident in my initial planning. Audience members tend to stare at me, as if I was an animal in a zoo, enhanced by the torches this made me feel like an object on display, a cog in a machine that wasn’t working properly, something unreal or dysfunctional. It was very interesting to see that some people had confidence when exploring the jars full of various rotted food as others were tense, anxious, and claustrophobic.
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(All pictures taken by myself on 2/5/13 Documentation)

The ability to communicate your message without the norm of speech enabled this performance to become a definite sensory performance. To use senses to transfer messages creates specific independent responses. The reaction to sound, smell and sight vary heavily to those of speech. This excited me as a performer because you were able to engage with them visually, as if they were performing. For the audience/performer shift to be present throughout the performance made the piece heavily link back to a kitchens normal purpose, yet simultaneously taking it out of its original context.

 

These are the ancestors

While the footage on its own had a great aesthetic effect  we decided that a relevant reading played over the top of each video clip would add to it. Each of us took on three rooms for which to find or write a text that we felt connected to the image, or added to or complimented the narrative of the clip. Considering the title of the whole performance was called ‘Safe House’ I looked in U.A. Fanthorpes “Safe As Houses”  (( U.A. Fanthorpe (1995) Safe As Houses: Poems by U.A. Fanthorpe. Cornwall: Peterloo Poets – a book of short poems )) . I found that the first stanza of the poem Haunting connected with mood and movement of the CCTV footage of the landing, discussing shadows and ancestors who just passed through. This coupled with the second stanza of the poem Last House  created a piece that spoke of shadows in three different senses-the darkness that requires light to be present, the ghost or image of a dead person, and the Shakespearean term for an actor.

“These are the ancestors. The shadow people,
who now and then lean softly from the dark
and stroke on chin or thumb the new generation.
This is their last performance. The delegate yaws doubtfully, as audiences do,
wanting the star to fall… but not until the last reel, at sunset, to the right music.” (( An adaptation of two poems by U.A. Fanthorpe (1995) Safe As Houses: Poems by U.A. Fanthorpe. Cornwall: Peterloo Poets ))

Another of my readings was a piece by David Rattray. His piece spoke of the fragility and ambiguity of existence in a way that complimented the brief existence of each of the life forms in every image.

“Life is a fragile hybrid pulsing, instant by instant, between being and nothingness. Even if every person on earth were to vanish suddenly from time and space, the mere fact of the absence would suffice to make humanity remain identical to what it already was. Absent.” (( Rattray, David (1992) How I Became One of The Invisible. USA: Semiotext p. 204 ))

For my final reading I took the lines of Lady Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and used them for the kitchen footage. In this stanza the Lady Macbeth discusses the place of women in the house and how strong the female kind are and this felt attuned to the place of the women in the modern day kitchen.

Installation piece-Kitchen. By Lizzy Hayes, Lauren Hughes, Faye Mcdool

(To view all the installation video clips with voice recordings please visit Lauren Hughes YouTube account on http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-d_h3abFFc4K36mLaNFaDw?feature=watch )

This was not the only feminist reading we acquired. For two of the other clips we used lines from H. G Wells’ book The Invisible Man but decided to alter the narrative to make them the voice of a woman. Not only was the text relevant to the clips in the text but also to us as CCTV operatives. We were the people who could see everything whilst remaining unseen.

Each video and sound clip was played off of a different screen, on a loop, in synchronisation and in a darkened room. For me the effect was haunting. To sit in the dark having nine different voices speak or whisper nine different pieces of text from varying points in the room felt like I was sat in the dark the centre of the  mind of a very thoughtful but confused person. Once again, I felt like I had power beyond my status: not only was I hearing the somewhat disjointed thoughts of various writers, poets and even fellow actors, but I still had the power to see the movements of every other person in the house. My way of overcoming the strange feeling? Play with the power.

 

 

“Seems I’m talking my whole life, it’s time I listen now”

“Like his voice can’t deal with things it has to describe, That’s the thing you have to do with a voice after all – make it speak of the things you cannot deal with- makes it speak of the illegal ” ((Tim Etchells (1999). Certain Fragments. New york: Routledge. 98-176))

What if you take away all the voices? What if a performance has no words, no specific message and is completely open to the audience’s interpretation, but surely silence has meaning?

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm_tTkHooZI 

In this you tube video, the university student talks about the value of silence and quotes her professor he describes how “Every individual structures their attitudes, beliefs, lifestyle, and behaviours around a theme. What is the life philosophy by which you live, and how has it shaped you as a person?” She goes on to say that her theme is the value of silence and of a quiet mind, she explains that “It’s something that I think is particularly relevant to modern youth, because the observation of silence is not something that our generation engages in enough” What happens when we explore the diversity and difficulty of silence in different situations? People like to focus on words and sounds, because they are comfortable words make a house feel homely. People are scared of silence, they are obsessed with noise they find it difficult to be alone to just shut the curtains; lock there doors. People are afraid because it is unfamiliar, when you isolate yourself there is no where to run.

She also says “I don’t think that practicing silence is necessary for observing silence. It has to do more with having a quiet mind than physically immersing oneself in silence” In our performance as our piece is a durational performance and we are going to have to have a quiet mind and physically immerse our self into our performance in silence.

Tim etchells talks about the meaning of silence, he made a list of silence of different situations

“ These are some examples of the list of silences

The kind of silence you sometimes get in phone calls to a person that you love.

The kind of silence people only dream of.

The kind of silence that follows a car crash.

The kind of silence between waves at the ocean”

Some examples that really interested me and relate to our room are…

“The kind of silence after a big argument

The kind of silence that only happens at night

The kind of silence is only for waiting in” ((Tim Etchells (1999). Certain Fragments. New york: Routledge. 98-176))

What if you took the kind of silence that is only for waiting in, and put it in a homely environment? Would that make the audience feel uncomfortable would they feel like there waiting for something? Our audience may feel that they are waiting for something to happen in our performance but it never does.

What if you left a room waiting?

“The atmosphere still retained the oppressiveness of a religious space; it seemed natural to speak in whispers. I felt my way along the corridor and opened the door at the end. The peeling paintwork of the synagogue was lit by warm yellow candlelight” ((Rachel Linchtenstein and Iain Sinclair (1999) Rodinsky’s Room: an excerpt http://www.artangel.org.uk//projects/1999/rodinsky_s_whitechapel/excerpt/excerpt (acessed: 10 April 2013)))

Rondinskys Room is story of what became of the reclusive Jewish scholar David Rondinsky, whose room at 19 Princlet street London was discovered undisturbed and had been left for 20 years after. As I was reading and researching into the story I found myself asking the question what silence would you call the silence of a room left alone to gather dust for 20 years be? Going on from what I was saying earlier about “the silence of waiting” I feel that this is the silence that applies to his room. When we go on holiday our house is waiting for us to come back, to make it home again. I feel that when I come home after being on holiday my house seems different smells different, sometimes even looks different we have to adjust ourselves to that space and learn to live in it again.  Rondinskys room was waiting for him to come back to come home but he never did, and was found by somebody else someone that it wasn’t familiar with. I feel that this added to the atomosphere in the room, and if we can create this kind of feeling for the audience in the living room it will be a very frightning and awkward situation for them to be in.

Unsettling environments

What makes a home different?

At home you are generally safe, comfortable and mostly in control of what comes in and out. You feel guarded somehow from the outside world right? I find the places and sites where we spend most of our lives begin to build up a barrier of familiarity, and a sense of understanding. You become well acquainted with the place, whether it be because of its furnishings or maybe even its inhabitants.

So the real question here is ‘What makes a familiar place unfamiliar’? Is it something to do with space, its temperature, its contents? All these things make your home special and unique to you. So I’ve decided to make the kitchen, probably one of the most lived in spaces of the house, different. I feel as though if audience members don’t feel comfortable in an environment their actions and opinions may be more interesting to explore during the performance. The various sounds of a kitchen, which I’ve been experimenting with, will certainly add to that unfamiliarity if edited and manipulated correctly. I find myself editing sounds constantly and changing the way they almost speak to an audience member. What happens when you’re trying to have a conversation with someone who speaks a different language – It all sounds like unknown noise and it’s difficult to communication and understand what is going on.
[peekaboo_link start=”visible”] Warning! Contains Performance Spoliers [/peekaboo_link][peekaboo_content name=”Spoilers” start=”hidden”]

Messing with people’s perceptions about what to expect is what Daniel Kurkakovic’s sound project called Other Rooms, Other Voices is linked to. Firstly his title, “I hoped there would be the recognition of something familiar, but on the other, I intended the inversion would cause a certain confusion” ((Weiner, Lawerence et al (1998) other rooms other voices Switzerland: Memory cage editions. ) )). Firstly the word “other” is very vague and could have a large scope of different meanings. This gap between familiarity and unfamiliarity could be potentially quite small. This is the place where I would like my audience to settle in during the performance, to know that they are familiar with certain aspects of the performance but not fully in control due to the changing soundscape and environment.

Kurkakovic states

“I am interested in the association, which can awaken a very personal story or anecdote of the listener…the tension may then lead to the following questions: Where is my voice? Where is my own perceptual ability?” ((Weiner, Lawerence et al (1998) other rooms other voices Switzerland: Memory cage editions. )  )) Audience questioning is a heavy part of my performance and the ability to access those thoughts will be crucial to the individual unique performative experience.

(Weiner, Lawerence et al (1998) other rooms other voices Switzerland: Memory cage editions)
“Beescope uses the main medium of radio: language. In itself, language does not have any meaning. It generates meaning depending on how it is used” ((Weiner, Lawerence et al (1998) other rooms other voices Switzerland: Memory cage editions. )  )) Recording and importing kitchen sounds on their own sound like random noises collaborated together, but I do believe the interpretation and manipulation creates its own voice. This therefore enables audience members to have the scope to explore and discover ideas and thoughts for themselves throughout the soundscape.

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(Images taken by myself Tuesday 12th March 2013 source: Flickr)

This feeling of unsettlement and unknowing is exactly how I want my audience to feel, to undergo a journey of their own personal discovery through the connotations which the soundscape ignite for them. To enhance this experience I have decided to make the room red. The colour red has many contrasting and different connotations which will hopefully add to the confusion and uncertainty. I will also be adding several heaters to the environment to make it quite warm, stuffy and claustrophobic this should hopefully make the environment quite unsettling and unfamiliar. Making the audience listen to the soundscape in this stationary environment may make the headphones seem safe. This may force the audience to keep listening and therefore continue the performance. The fact that the environment is so still may add to the tension and the nervousness created by the soundscape.

Overall I aim for the audience to feel unsettled in this room and so hopefully their own experiences can be delved in to, therefore producing an individual, unique personal experience for everyone involved. [/peekaboo_content]

Distorting the face of reality

How far can you change something to make it a distant reality?

Changing the impression of a room can be difficult because it relies heavily on audience interpretation and so their own individual associations. This is quite stimulating because it enables you as a performer to set up a base foundation for the audience to explore and almost create their own performance.

At what point does a performance become personal?

Sound is a powerful tool for engagement and as a performer, through experimentation, I found that certain sounds placed together in different ways evoked contrasting feelings and emotions. The time in the performance when feelings and individual thoughts and memories come to the forefront of your mind is the main focus of my work and so the other sections of the environment only supports this.

“DoMA/at Home is a meta-theatrical performance project which explores everyday living spaces using a combination of theatre, performance, fine art and movement, along with a strong emphasis on games and involvement of the audience in the process”. ((Lotker, Howard (2006) Divadlo HoME online: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_67088_1%26url%3D (accessed March 2013.) )).

DoMA at home 2 DoMA at home
(Home, DoMA/at home sourced: http://www.divadlohome.net/shows/doma_gallery.html (accessed 13th April 2013))

Throughout this performance the audience are going to be aware that they are watching or being involved in a performance, especially with the specific cliental that this site specific work interests, however, it’s the ability to get the audience so lost in their own world through distraction and distortion that makes the performance truthful.  Involvement of the audience in a main theme in my work and so I intend to not only involve them physically using headphones but also in their own performance of their thoughts and ideas will be individual, giving them a strong connection with the piece and therefore hopefully leaving my space feeling confused and not in control of their ideas.

“There are constant surprises and interesting questions raised about: borders, cultures, what is art (and how is it different or the same as real life), and about what home means to us” ((Lotker, Howard (2006) Divadlo HoME online: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_67088_1%26url%3D (accessed March 2013.) )).

Questioning of the art is also a critical engagement tool in my work and so I want my audience to be constantly questioning themselves and question what they are doing and so hopefully the art is reinforced and justified by individual opinions and ideas. Below is a review of the DoMA performance in which audience maintained the feelings after the performance had ended.

“They explored the apartments and improvised in unconventional ways. The evening is at an end, but afterwards you go away imbued with this intoxicating atmosphere which penetrates you, and for a long time afterwards you will carry with you the gratifying and unrepeatable feeling of this performance” ((Gráfová, Tifka (2005) An Evening of Voyeurism and Sweet Intoxication online: http://blackboard.lincoln.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_67088_1%26url%3D (accessed 18th March 2013.) )).

Collaborative soundscape experimentation…

Experimenting with sound and the notion of manipulation sets an instant confusion and disassociation. They ask themselves….What am I listening to? Why am I listening? But as the sound plays certain sounds become more obvious and due to the environment some links begin to appear, but having said that, some sounds remain unknown. The unknown sounds are what may make the audience think and question the sources. All the sounds are recorded on site and are kitchen sounds but the level of editing and manipulation on certain noises may start to create different sounds by use of experimentation. The tester above is one of my first ideas solely as experimentation. As you can hear some sounds are obvious, some not so obvious and the tense and unsettling notion that something is that close to your head I feel puts you on edge.

(Tinley, Andrew (2013) Soundscape Tester 1 online: https://soundcloud.com/andrewtinley2012-1/tester-sound-scape-1-mp3/s-5w3fx  (accessed 18th March 2013).

I decided to use headphones during this section so that the audience are unable to escape from the performance. This, due to the fact there are only two audience members with two separate headphones on, raises the question – Are they listening to the same soundscape? This question makes the space much more dynamic and creates a notion of isolation inside your head. This is a positive feeling in terms of my performance because I want each audience member to receive a different individual experience.

The kitchen as a space is quite familiar to use all so completely turning that notion on its head and making audience members enter a completely transformed space with subtle kitchen links may put them at unease. This feeling of tension and potential unknowing helps the space deliver its own characteristics because initially the audience may start thinking with the kitchen in the mind but as the performance goes on I do believe that those opinions and thoughts may get transformed and battled against due to their own personal associations and ideas.