- Venue
- 1 Berwick Street
- Location
- London
‘Children of Modernity’ is an interactive performance put on by the Stand and Stare collective. It took place from the 22nd to the 28th of September as a part of the PopUp House Exhibition, in Soho, London. Through different exchanges the audience is invited to discover what happened to Rossie, a woman who’s gone missing from a commune called the ‘Children of Modernity’ in the 1970’s.
Upon arriving at The Gallery at 1 Berwick Street, I was guided downstairs to the basement which resembled a concrete bunker. There stood a tepee, which I was kindly requested to enter and to make myself comfortable. It was a very intimate setting when the front cloth to the tepee was drawn, the audience only consisting of myself and two others. While still admiring my surroundings – a variety of cosy, kitsch furniture and other items – a comforting female voice, I assumed to be that of Rossie, spoke from unknown origin.
She told us about her whole life being monochromatically colour blind, only being able to see in black, white and grey and not understanding what colour is. That is, until she came here to the commune and by some miracle could see colour and saw the grass, the sky, the trees, her own hands! It was a very compelling narrative and had me trying to imagine being in this position. However, I don’t think I could every fully comprehend such, as it is always possible to associate colour to different shades of black and white through memory.
Rossie thanked us for visiting with her at her commune and asked if we would like to join her in a song. One of my fellow viewers and me began to sing haphazardly, using the small lyric sheets that lay in small piles around the tent. As we sang, a short film was projected onto the front of the tepee, a mishmash of colourful images and dated footage of a hippy community. I must admit the scenario began to make me feel very involved with the piece and I forgot the coldness of the concrete bunker and London outside and embraced the safe commune I now imagined surrounding me.
As Rossie finished her song, she informed us that she’s been reading Great Expectations and that we should take a look at it ourselves; a table lamp went on in the corner, lighting a book. It was almost comical the ghostly forces at work.
Opening the book we found a key and a note telling us to find the fitting place to be unlocked and to hear the words that worried Rossie. In one corner sat a locked trunk that, when opened, contained several pairs of headphones. We all took a pair and another piece of the story unfolded in the manner of a dialogue.
The discussion was between Rudie, a close acquaintance of Rossie, who is also the founder of the Children of Modernity, and Cecil, another member of the community. The conversation concerns a reporter who might do a feature on their new commune which could help them to expand. There is some debate as to whether Rossie’s miracle should be the main focus of the article.
Throughout the duration of the audio piece, the audience assumes the position of what would have been Rossie, pretending to be asleep, eavesdropping on the conversation. The voices circle her tent; you can hear their feet stepping through the grass, moving closer, then away. Later I was to find the method for this audio development was binaural recording, a technique used to create a realistic affect in relation to the space between one’s ears.
I found that the acquisition of Rossie’s identity enhanced the narrative in a new sense, by requesting the audience to experience this memory ‘in her shoes’.
Following the audio, a short film on loop prompts the audience to search out a bag, containing a letter to Rudie from Rossie. The prose is ever so poetic, a love letter expressing her gratitude to Rudie for freeing her from the constraints of her old routine lifestyle and showing her how to explore freedom.
She reminisces over the childhood comforts of plunging her hand into a large pile of beans and her need to be honest. The letter tells Rudie and the audience to find the beans, for that is where we will find truth. I must admit I wanted so much to find the cassette tape hidden in the pot of beans, as the other member of our group didn’t seem to enjoy the sensation.
We played the tape on a cassette player on the table and heard Rossie confessing with great emotion to having lied about the miracle, that she was still colour blind and had to leave because she couldn’t bare the dishonesty any longer. She asked almost hysterically that Rudie forget her, not try to find her and to continue to be the inspirational figure to others as he was to her. When the tape finished we sat there uncertainly, until the same film from the beginning was replayed in black and white, accompanied by Led Zepplin’s ‘Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You’. I was almost devastated to realise the piece was over. I needed to know more of the story, what became of Rudie and Rosie and the Children of Modernity.
A feature I find predominantly significant to this piece is how the audience assumes three different roles throughout, perceiving the delivery of information from several different angles. At first the audience is simply a spectator trying to understand the context. It then attains the role of Rossie, herself to interpret the feelings of concern and worry and finally the audience becomes Rudie, encountering first Rossie’s affection and then his devastation caused by her departure. Factoring in that she still had never witnessed colour also adds an affect of lonely despair.
This in addition to the manipulation of the senses through atmosphere, audio/visual and setting, really draws the audience in. The intimacy I imagine could potentially intimidate a smaller/larger crowd and could withdraw their initiative to participate out of fear of becoming a spectacle. I question whether this would hinder the execution of the piece. I, personally, felt I developed a relationship with the other two members during our search of the story and those who are less open might find it harder to engage.
For those who allow themselves to be manipulated and seize the opportunities that make this interactive performance an adventure, they will be a part of a wonderful encounter.
The Stand and Stare Collective “orchestrate artistic and theatrical happenings” which seek to engage their audience with a goal to “surprise, delight and entertain” and in my opinion, they are very successful in achieving said ambition.