The body becomes the unit of measure
Capacity is measured not by seats but by tolerable bodily distance, difficulty of turning and collisions of sightline.
03 / 07
Iceberg
Decentralized theatre under spatial compression
2021
- Year
- 2021
- Medium
- Live theatre, spatial installation and participatory structure
- Role
- Producer
Inside a 16-square-metre office, eight makers and fifteen spectators entered a cellular structure of viewing. The smaller the room, the more legible the pressure between people became.
03
Project statement
Iceberg unfolds inside a small office. Crowding, obstruction, silence and the difficulty of entering or leaving become part of the performance, keeping makers and spectators within close range.
Bodies, characters and acts of looking were compressed into an almost black-box state. Visible action formed only the surface; underneath lay relations that were concealed, frozen, suppressed and repeatedly exposed.
PROJECT NOTES
The smaller the room, the harder it is for looking to remain neutral.
Iceberg places eight makers and fifteen spectators inside a sixteen-square-metre office. Everyone can feel the breath, gaze and obstruction of others, while entering or leaving immediately interrupts the event.
No complete viewpoint exists
The cellular structure forces spectators to accept obstruction and partial information. Every Iceberg is different, and every version incomplete.
The center moves with action
Sound, minor movement and nearby spectators’ reactions keep shifting attention, so each person experiences the work from a different position.
WORKING PROCESS
Compress
Bring people close enough that they cannot ignore one another.
Obstruct
Replace panoramic control with incomplete sight.
Displace
Move attention among person, sound and spectator.
Leave traces
Live images retain obstruction, deviation and the limits of each viewing position.
PROJECT DETAILS
A line through the work
When spectators cannot retreat to a safe distance, can looking remain only looking?
Next project / 04
Howler on the Rooftop
How private emotion becomes a public situation