The Performance.

How much can we see in other people? And what do we see – them or ourselves? The project follows these question of projection in a playful way that draws on art traditions from Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Man of the Crowd” to Invisible Theatre and Following to Antje Vowinckel’s Automatic Speaking.

Also part of the FOLLOW ME cycle of work is the 8-channel sound installation with the same name.

For FOLLOW ME – THE PERFORMANCE La Pesch sets out to find answers with three performers in public space (phases see below). The performers follow unknown people and themselves on the street. While doing so, they immediately voice their perceptions and develop stories about the people they follow based on their observations. Their bodiless voices carry away the audience. What does following to ourselves? What is triggered by this daily game of projection? The streams of consciousness of the performers are mixed live by La Pesch. She also accompanies, completes, and contrasts them with a live composition of field recordings. A fragmented poetic game of entanglement and disentanglement for the ears unfolds.

The experimental set-up establishes in the analogue world what is long usual in the digital world – following people, observing their culinary habits and the paths they take… Effortless the piece raises questions of privacy, voyeurism, drawing boundaries, and public space. Always present is the question of projection and reconnecting with oneself via other people.

FOLLOW ME was nominated as a project for the Phonurgia Nova Awards 2019 and was honored with the Master Class “La Radio Performée” by Alessandro Bosetti. A first performance in English was created in Arles during the Master Class with Fanny Duj, Audrey Houdart, Elen Huynh and Lauriane Houbey. The project was further supported by a radio play grant from the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and developed into an 8-channel installation during the Field Kitchen Academy – The Curious Loop – in collaboration with Hans Peter Kuhn, Charlotte Colmant, James Wood, Emilie Wright and Rava Vavàra. The further development of the performance and a German version was made possible with a working grant from GVL within the framework of Neustart Kultur and the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media. Finally, it was presented at Die Hörspieltage in the House of Literature Niederösterreich. With the feedback of colleagues the performance got its final touch. The premier of the German version of the performance will be happening during Sonohr Festival 2022. Thanks to all the many people and institutions who have enriched this work with their contribution.

German Version

1. Explorations in Public Space

From 12th to 14th August 2022 a serie in the city of Kassel

During documenta15 we explored the city center from 4 different starting points on behalf of the City Kassel and the Cultural House Dock 4 – the Treppenstraße at The Obelisc, at The Main Station, in front of Haus Rucker Rahmenbau and St. Martin Church. How do different locations coin our perception? And times of the day? In a collective experiment we digged deep and involved the audience in good talks after each performance.

2. The City in the Cinema

26th February 2022 at Sonohr Festival

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English Version:

Prologue

La Pesch steps in front of the audience. Using the voice impro technique Automatic Speaking – a fusion of Écriture Automatique und Musique Concrète invented by Antje Vowinckel and developed further by La Pesch – she voices her perception of the moment, briefly describes people in the audience and starts to make up assumptions about them based on their appearance.

Phase 1

The city and the voices of the performers who walk nearby in public space become audible. They follow people, describe them, their actions, their movements, and develop a story about the followed person. Two of the performers follow strangers, one follows another performer. No one knows who is following whom. That was decided by lot. The performers also use Automatic Speaking. La Pesch has extended this technique by using it as a starting point for the imagination, instead of remaining solely in the expression of real events in the here and now. The voices of the performers are transmitted to the mixing desk via mobile phones, La Pesch mixes them live with quasi-musical elements and sends them to the audience via loudspeakers. The audience can observe the surroundings, wonder whose voices are heard, while following the fragmented perceptions and ideas.

Phase 2

The sounds of three timers start and let the performers know, it is time to return. They use the way to the audience to reflect on their observations, imaginations, and the story they created. How did that experience make them feel? Which topics came up?

Phase 3

Once the performers enter the venue, they gather around a microphone in the middle of the room. Now, they speak as one I and recreate the experience together. One performer starts with a sentence, leaves it incomplete and another performer continues the sentence. They all talk about the same experience but from a different point of view revealing the ambiguity and diversity of perception.

The Idea

All three parts draw on the idea of those books that have a sentence written across the page. But the page is cut into parts. Each of these parts can be turned separately. When you turn one of these fragmented pages the sentence changes but still makes sense.

Founding / Support

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