one-to-one performance: 3 hours
"From East to the Barbican"; The Barbican Centre; London, UK. 2015
Thinking about the migration of artists out of London and into the metaphorical Ultima Thule (regions that lie beyond the borders of the known world), I bring together in this immersive audio-visual piece, ideas surrounding topophilia, exploration, pigeons’ homing instincts, nomadism and the way nomads relate to their changing environments:
Deleuze and Guattari theorize that nomads perceive and move around the world in a manner opposite to sedentary cultures, which is all about parceling out the earth to individuals, and which is all about borders and seeing the world from a single fixed perspective. Nomads on the other hand, see the world from multiple points of view, and also tend to see others (beyond their own kind) as "like themselves", similarly vulnerable to the elements.
Kirsten Hastrup reports that Eskimo nomads habitually leave surplus game under piles of stones for others who may pass by and be in need of food. Nomads also welcome and care for travelers with an openness not found in sedentary cultures.
Participants were invited to listen to a multitude of voices speaking of these ideas, whilst observing a silkworm unhurriedly spin its cocoon via a VR headset.
Camera/Editor: David Sentosa | Copyright Something Human 2015