|
The medieval
books of hours, containing prayers attached to the
time of day and used as a framework to structure
daily life, were point of departure for the Utrecht
composer Riek Westerhof when writing the
small book
of hours.
It is a special diary that she kept over the course
of two years, in which she noted her thoughts, bits
of dialogue and reflections on music and society or
personal experiences, attached to the exact time in
hours and minutes when they occurred. Bundled
together, they make a complete new day, fictive in
that it never happened in this order.
In the theatrical
setting, the text functions as the
clockwork; depending on its speed, the performance
will last between 24 and 48 minutes.
The music, transparent piano tones
and clusters, played by the composer herself, is at
times transformed into interference by sound artist
Radboud Mens, ranging from gentle to
painful.
Using realtime
video editing to do live sampling and scratching of
movement sequences, Isabelle Jenniches creates a
virtual partner for dancer Karen Levi; revealing and
holding through series of snapshots the traces left
in time.
|
