Tissues I: A Prologue

Commissioned by Biennale of Moving Image, Geneva. Performed 10th November 2018.

Tissues I: A Prologue is a live play presented as a mesmerising game, performed by an ensemble of ten performers and opera singers. Taken to the venue by bus at night, holding the printed libretto in hand, the audience arrived to find the play had already started. Here Tissues’ central protagonist appears as a multitude, played simultaneously or in turn by the cast, singers and scenery, reflecting a singular tormented and divided persona. The glass-walled tank of Pavillon Sicli is echoed by a series of smaller tanks housing individual performances, the moving backdrop of the city completing an orchestra of performative elements. Tissues I unfolds gradually and spatially, its performers drifting as if through deep water, inviting the audience to search for and invent their own story. Then, halfway through the play the dreamer is awakened abruptly by a knock on the wall, and turns to see that the role of spectator and performer has been reversed, lending a sudden voyeuristic quality to the glass window, and redistributing perspective among all present

受日内瓦双年展所托，Tissues I: A Prologue是一个由10名表演者和歌剧歌手所表演的，呈现为引人入胜的游戏般的现场演出。于晚间由巴士带到会场，手里拿着印刷的剧本，观众发现在他们到达时表演已经开始。在这里Tissue的主角以多种身份出现，由演员，歌者和场景同时或轮番扮演，反映了一种被折磨又分裂的人格。Pavillon Sicli的透明玻璃墙让城市的移动背景成为完成歌剧的表演元素。Tissues I在空间里逐渐展开，表演者仿佛在深水里漂流，邀请观众找寻并发明他们自己的故事。然后，在表演进行到一半时做梦者被突然的敲门声唤醒，转而发现观众和表演中的身份被调换了，赋予空间窥探的特质，并在现场重新分配了视角。