Twilight
The new hall-space of the Temple bar Studios has one short side (which is almost entirely made of glass) that faces onto the street. Because these are the only windows in this 20 meter long hall, the effect of the daylight is progressively diminished the further into the space one walks.
I measured the course of daylight during the twilight hours with a light-meter. Before this piece I conducted a workshop with the participants.
Performance:
At 9 p.m., when there was still some trace of daylight left, 25 people stood along the space's central line, in other words: from the light to the dark side.
They stood side by side, each alternately looking in an opposite direction and making low relaxed vocal sounds.
The volume of those standing in the light part was quite loud while those in the darker area were quieter.
The people between tried to pitch their voices at a volume relative to their position in the line.
Every four minutes, the person nearest the window (who was holding a small clock) would take a sideways step towards the dark part and accordingly lower the volume of his or her voice.
The other people would also move up and, in turn, adjust their volume to the new situation.
The person next to the dark wall would then leave the row.
As the daylight diminished, the row become shorter and the total volume of voices also decreased.
The work ended after about two hours when the last person (who was standing at the end of the row in the dark and working at a very low vocal volume) left the row.
Postscript:
During the whole process, the door onto the street was left open so that anyone interested could walk in and out.
This meant that as the sound of the voices became weaker, all kinds of elements from the street, such as the voices of the passers-by and the lights and sounds of cars, gradually took over the space.
year | 1986 |
date | 29.05.1986 |
location | Temple Bar Studios Dublin Ireland |
performed by | 25 volunteer participants |
curator | Jenny Haughton |
photography | Christine Bond |