Waiting for a Grain of Sand to Leap into the Air (2015)
Waiting for a Grain of Sand to Leap into the Air was a performance research project I undertook at the DRIFT residency with ZU-UK theatre in the mountainous regions of Rio de Janeiro.
I collaborated with coder Tim Murray-Browne to research the possibilities of telling story through interactive digital sound/movement installation. Our research question was to ask, ‘How can we feel the shape of a sound pixel in our body?’
A performance was taking shape, each day creating a new iteration, inviting feedback from fellow resident artists. We had a final public sharing of the performance at Gargarullo Theatre, inviting local audience into the installation space. Part world atlas, part abandoned hotel, part Japanese domestic apartment, the piece was based on a Murakami novel ‘ Dance Dance Dance’. Its body-triggered sounds were the piece’s invisible architecture, that played out fragments of a narrative when triggered, inviting audience members to ‘feel’ sound and encounter the atmosphere through movement.
I was influenced by my travels through Brazil, immersing myself into different environments, sounds, languages, and experiencing the ‘body space’ (the cultural feel of one’s personal space boundaries in relation to others). As part of the research I also made guerilla performances with Brazilian dancer/choreographer Liria Morays around the markets and urban parts of Salvador.
