I WAS HERE – A performance installation by Osynliga Teatern
Performance
Projektrummen, Färgfabriken
A production by Osynliga Teatern and Färgfabriken
Concept and management: Tomas Rajnai, Jens Nielsen
The phone call started happily, almost warmly, “Yes, it’s fine.” “Is the door closed?” “I was here.” You look around, “I have been here.” “The name,” I say, “the name.” You say that a thought can open up a place where fantasy can dismantle the existing one. It is an invitation to talk with me. The phone rings. One word: “a world.” I ask, you are quiet. If we will reintroduce our way of being in the world, we need to start by describing the world in another way. “Give me a name,” you say. “This is a farewell monologue,” I say. “Whose?” you ask. “It is my lifeline.” “Say what you want, talk, talk, it doesn’t matter.”
I WAS HERE is a conversation with a stranger. A conversation that will change. A conversation about a life, about silence and about what can’t be told. A conversation which looks for a path of humanity within everything around us. A conversation about you.
There is no stage. There is no public. No spotlights where someone is going to perform. You are in a dark room. You are in the center. But you are the one listening, surrounded by voices, like a reversed concert. You control the situation through proximity and distance. A voice describes how it couldn’t see itself, that it never felt itself as it feels you. It sounds tentative. “But who are you for real?” It doesn’t matter who you are, but in the blink of an eye you are everything. Someone describes a vague memory, trying to remember. A promise of security, but also a risk. There are other people there. Sometimes you are alone. We know it. We take care of you.
You are there as The Observer.
I call you. I lead you, I will listen to you, I will be sincerely curious and will ask questions. You can be quiet, but I will allow you to talk. I will take care of you and I will allow others to listen to you. I will make your story eternal.
You are there as The Narrator.
I WAS HERE is a performance installation by Osynliga Teatern which combines an intimate experience for one person per occasion with a live-stream that can be experienced online or in one of the exhibition spaces at Färgfabriken. The work combines a relational situation with an all-encompassing environment where questions of trust and empathy is tested in relation to our private sphere. The exhibition is founded on public telephone conversations and is divided into two parts. As a visitor, you can choose to participate in the installation either as The Narrator or as The Observer, or as both.
Practical information:
The Observer: To experience this part, you don’t need to book a ticket. You can come and go as you please during the opening hours.
The Narrator: Limited space available. The length is 30 minutes. This part is in both Swedish and English. To experience the work as The Narrator, you need to book a ticket. Tickets can be booked via www.biletto.com and will be released 28/2 at 12 p.m.
About the artists
Osynliga Teatern is a performing arts company founded in 2012 by Jens Nielsen and Tomas Rajnai. Their work can be described as performance installations where they invite the audience to participate and observe. They strive to create an intimacy and shared vulnerability between the work and the visitor. They create authentic encounters in an immersive world where the work is often site-specific and the material authentic. The work relates to movement, poetry, authenticity and a human presence. They create dreams from reality with the ambition to question our relationship with the world in which we live.
Osynliga Teatern has played nationally and internationally at stages and festivals such as the Royal Dramatic theatre (Dramaten), Folkteatern Göteborg, Färgfabriken in Stockholm, Västmanlands Teater, Weld, The Reykjavík City Theatre, Sort/Hvid in Copenhagen, Metropolis festival, CPH Stage, Tempo documentary festival and Reykjavik Arts Festival. In 2017, the work Det Levda Baklänges was taken to the Performing Arts Biennale and nominated for the 2018 Performing Arts Gala.
Credits
A production by Osynliga Teatern
Concept and management: Tomas Rajnai, Jens Nielsen
Contributors: TBA
Lighting: Anton Andersson
Construction: Johan Andrén
Production: Karin Englund, Pernilla Lesse
Photography: Jonas Eng
Design: Leon&Chris
Co-production: Färgfabriken