YAEL DAVIDS (EDITION 1)
End on Mouth (2005)
'End on Mouth 'has travelled from Utrecht to ’s-Hertogenbosch and Leiden and had again and again a new approach.
In Utrecht the 'choreography' was the same as in Istanbul, where 'End on Mouth' in Platform Garanti was performed for the first time. Two big wooden podia are found in the space, one on the floor, one leaning against the wall. With collective force, the lying podium was for several moments lifted up and held at eye level by a group of carriers that emerged from the public watching the performance in the space. One space's architectural column pierced the podium and functioned as an 'anchor'.
'End on Mouth 'has travelled from Utrecht to ’s-Hertogenbosch and Leiden and had again and again a new approach.
In Utrecht the 'choreography' was the same as in Istanbul, where 'End on Mouth' in Platform Garanti was performed for the first time. Two big wooden podia are found in the space, one on the floor, one leaning against the wall. With collective force, the lying podium was for several moments lifted up and held at eye level by a group of carriers that emerged from the public watching the performance in the space. One space's architectural column pierced the podium and functioned as an 'anchor'.
Davids reverses the idea of a podium as a tool for 'being on stage': instead of letting them perform on the podium, Davids directs the 3 actors and the 3 musicians inside the podium. From this confined position they are expected to perform their text and music. Hidden like this, their live presence manifests itself in the vocal capacity of the body. The unity between voice and body is interrupted, the desire to identify sound visually is frustrated.
The text of the play which the actors express and on which the music is based, is about the voice: the voice as the conduit for human expression and manifestation. But Davids contends that in the same act we are expressing ourselves, we also disappear. "You see, when we talk, we are breathing out; expression has to do with the physical action of emptying ourselves. Every time we talk, we die a bit."
Every presentation of 'End on Mouth' relates directly to the space. In Den Bosch the location was an empty factory hall with massive floor space. Here the movement of the podia became more expansive and complex. The stage with the musicians was lifted up down again repeatedly. The second podium containing the actors, was rolled over and over through the space by the carriers.
From the openness and the expansiveness of the event in Den Bosch, Davids returned, in Leiden, to the compact situation of a closed space on human scale wherein the podia again had a more static position. The physical effort found its expression this time in endurance, referring to the 70s tradition of performance art. In Leiden she questioned the tension between the gaze and the voice which led the piece into an actual discussion, for within this respect 'End on Mouth' manifests itself as an iconoclastic longing for opening new registers.
The text of the play which the actors express and on which the music is based, is about the voice: the voice as the conduit for human expression and manifestation. But Davids contends that in the same act we are expressing ourselves, we also disappear. "You see, when we talk, we are breathing out; expression has to do with the physical action of emptying ourselves. Every time we talk, we die a bit."
Every presentation of 'End on Mouth' relates directly to the space. In Den Bosch the location was an empty factory hall with massive floor space. Here the movement of the podia became more expansive and complex. The stage with the musicians was lifted up down again repeatedly. The second podium containing the actors, was rolled over and over through the space by the carriers.
From the openness and the expansiveness of the event in Den Bosch, Davids returned, in Leiden, to the compact situation of a closed space on human scale wherein the podia again had a more static position. The physical effort found its expression this time in endurance, referring to the 70s tradition of performance art. In Leiden she questioned the tension between the gaze and the voice which led the piece into an actual discussion, for within this respect 'End on Mouth' manifests itself as an iconoclastic longing for opening new registers.
End on Mouth - Yael Davids
Concept
Yael Davids
Execution
André van Bergen and Michiel Kluiters
Actors
Joep van der Geest, Lotte Proot, Martijn van der Veen
Musicians
Michele Bagaglio (composition, guitar and voice), Carlos Vaquero Patricio (flute), Sonja Gruys (voice)
With special thanks to
All carriers, Marijn van der Jagt, Astrid Schumacher, Gallery Akinci (Amsterdam)
Concept
Yael Davids
Execution
André van Bergen and Michiel Kluiters
Actors
Joep van der Geest, Lotte Proot, Martijn van der Veen
Musicians
Michele Bagaglio (composition, guitar and voice), Carlos Vaquero Patricio (flute), Sonja Gruys (voice)
With special thanks to
All carriers, Marijn van der Jagt, Astrid Schumacher, Gallery Akinci (Amsterdam)
