Image courtesy of Lorena Fernandez.
Impressive feats of theatrical creation occur within the mind whilst reading a book. These are amongst the most magical of humanity’s creative feats, incredible tricks our brains play as we embody a world only described to us through print. Deciphering words strung together upon the page instantly and unconsciously, the mind takes part in the transforming text into living, breathing worlds full of action, flesh, blood, bone, decay, death, rebirth, chaos, pageantry, and beauty.
With THE QUIET VOLUME, Ant Hampton and Tim Etchells have crafted a hands-on performance piece, built for pairs of intrepid cultural explorers to create together, in real time, for each other and themselves.
At the New Zealand Festival, THE QUIET VOLUME is set in nooks and crevices amongst the hushed hustle and soothing, art filled second story of the National Library of New Zealand.
Before beginning the ritualistic performance, aural and visual textures of the library and it’s inhabitants envelop you, transforming into the set and background performers creating a baseline of reality to journey away from and back towards as THE QUIET VOLUME transports you into a magical realm of words.
Of particular import to Hampton and Etchells is imparting the power of the written word to engage the deep recesses of the brain. They desire to elucidate for participants the tricks that can be played on a willing, open mind engaged in play. While guiding you through a set of performative activities with and for yourself and your partner (and the voyeuristic gaze of random library denizens), Etchells and Hampton urge you to consider the miracle of language. The process by which the written word evolves and mutates within societies and cultures, facilitating a range of communications that engender all manner of expression off of the page.
THE QUIET VOLUME touches on the personal process of acquiring literacy, and then our manners of expression beyond spoken language, evolving from symbols to letters, to words made up of letters, to sentences crafted from words concocted of letters, groupings of paragraphs full of sentences built of words created from letters… this endless loop of creation and constructions all built out from the origin and birth of a simple, single mark carved into a stone, the smear of ink upon paper or papyrus.
This inherently simple act of reading and absorbing information and culture, be it the morning newspaper, a work of pulp fiction, or perhaps a piece of art that removes you from your current socio economic comfort, providing an awareness and taste of the stark, dire reality that another living creature is experiencing… until you choose to turn the page, or close the cover and push the book aside.
THE QUIET VOLUME is gently insistent in forwarding it’s thesis that we have been granted access to an incredible gift. Language, literature, the written word are more than mere tools. They are are as fragile and complex as the human condition. They can lie, shift one’s perception, play the trickster, inspire greatness… all while engaging the most fantastical imaginations of the reader. Their existence and usage allows for communication of all things amongst friends, lovers, strangers, or two people sitting at a desk in a public library.
Like all site specific, participatory pieces, THE QUIET VOLUME is best understood after participating in it. Urging you to do so would be the subtlest of understatements.
TICKETS AND PRICING
GENERAL ADMISSION: $30
Thematic content includes:
DATES AND TIMES
This show runs:
02/22/2014 to
Tuesdays: 10:15 to 3:45pm Wednesdays: 10:15 to 3:45pm Thursdays: 10:15 to 3:45pm Fridays: 10:15 to 3:45pm Saturdays: 10:15 to 3:45pm
Duration: 1hr (no interval) In pairs, from 10.15am–3.45pm (multiple sessions).
National Library of New Zealand: 04-474 3000 MAP
ADDITIONAL INFO
National Library of New Zealand
70 Molesworth Street
Thorndon
Wellington,
6011
04-474 3000
ADDITIONAL INFO
National Library of New Zealand
70 Molesworth Street
Thorndon
Wellington,
6011
04-474 3000
National Library of New Zealand: 04-474 3000
MAP
