Emerging from and returning to stillness, a series of actions with earth and oranges and light, in a stone tower of a former church.
The festival was held in the Centre Cultural La Mercè, a former church. I chose to use the tower room for my performance, which was up three flights of stairs.
The room was stone. A single tall window, open to the air, overlooked the city. I was most interested in the lighting in the room. There was a gap in the stone floor that ran the length of the room. It was covered with translucent glass, with lights from below providing a soft illumination to the room.
I covered the glass with earth. The room became very dark, with only the glow of the lights from the city coming from the window. Bells from the churches in the city could be heard ringing almost constantly, each responding to a different clock, a different sense of time.
I knelt on the earth, facing into the room. I had a mound of oranges in front of me, many still retaining stems and leaves. On each wrist I had a tiny white light.
The audience came and went, standing or sitting along the opposite wall from me. It would take time for their eyes to adjust to the darkness.
I created shadows with my hands that moved around the room, across the walls and ceiling.
I could light the faces of the audience.
I could reveal an orange, or hide it in a river of shadows.
If I brushed aside the earth on the floor, a beam of light would shine up to illuminate my face.
The actions emerged slowly, out of stillness and silence.
I played with the shadows.
I shared my oranges with the audience, rolling one to each person in the room. We ate them, and their fragrance permeated the space.
I uncovered circles of light around my body.
I lay down on the earth.
