An evening delving into unverifiable reality with guests: performance by Tchelet Pearl Weisstub, a marathon of Tarot readings by Billy Mullaney, a pseudo-interactive installation by Andrea Božić and Julia Willms and a response and conversation with Konstantina Georgelou.
At Spectra | Studio, Marci Panis, Marcusstraat 52 | 1D, Amsterdam
Saturday, 7 December 2019 at 19.00 hrs
Note (!): Billy’s Tarot readings start already the night before and take place for 28 continuous hours, every half hour from Friday 6 December at 20.00 to Saturday 7 December at midnight. Please check availability via this link and reserve your preferred time slot by sending an email to billymullaney@gmail.com
Entrance free. Donations welcome.
Updates via this link
Programme
Beginning: 19.00 hrs
Future Present by Tchelet Pearl Weisstub with Haian Arshied
Performance at around 20.15
Welcome, I Have Been Expecting You – the hermit crossed with the three of cups by Billy Mullaney
Tarot readings, one-to-one durational performance – ongoing from 6 December at 20.00 to 7 December at midnight (every half hour for 28 hours)
Zandloper (Hourglass) by Andrea Božić and Julia Willms
Audio-visual installation – ongoing
A response and a conversation with Konstantina Georgelou and the artists
Around 21.00
***
Welcome, I Have Been Expecting You - the hermit crossed with the three of cups by Billy Mullaney
I have read tarot cards for over twelve years, but only recently initiated a dramaturgical analysis of tarot readings as a performance practice, and even more recently was convinced to situate this practice in aesthetic spaces such as visual art galleries or theatres.
Of course all reality is unverifiable--however, tarot cards are perfectly suited (no pun intended) to take advantage of this condition. They encourage syllogistic thought by presenting a recombinant set of images, idioms, and statements that we commit to reading as self-representational.
Like any projective test, the mode of spectatorship promotes a gaze that unfolds and immediately prunes a web of connotations from its dense, arbitrary (but not random) symbology.
Unlike a projective test, it is spooky.
"Unverifiable Reality" points to a crucial mechanism of tarot readings as a site of performance. Because it's unverifiable, we are able to individually commit to reading each spread--after all, the unverifiable is also un-disprovable.
***
Future Present by Tchelet Pearl Weisstub with Haian Arshied
These days, together with Haian Arshied (a musician I have been working with for the past few years), I am developing an immersive sculpture and performance called: Future Present. In the coming Salon we will share the first baby steps of this new work.
Haian will be playing a theremin on low frequencies from The Schumann resonances spectrum (7.38 HZ- 30 HZ) that are a set of peaks in the Earth's electromagnetic field. At the same time I will be amplifying the sound of my now pregnant body.
In our research, we summon ancient female deities in order to help us evoke a cyclical and maternal experience of time. We do this in order to counter an accelerating experience of time in which the landscape is increasingly occupied with Earthing Technologies. (Innovations that attempt to regulate environmental changes).
***
Zandloper (Hourglass) by Andrea Božić and Julia Willms
Glass is made of sand. Windows are made of sand. Bulbs are made of sand. Wineglasses are made of sand. Concrete is made of sand. Asphalt is made of sand. Roads are made of sand. Parking lots are made of sand. Runways are made of sand. Swimming pools are made of sand. Railroads are made of sand. Walls are made of sand. Houses are made of sand. Buildings are made of sand. Electronics are made of sand. Cellphone screens are made of sand. Monitors are made of sand. Beaches are made of sand. Coasts are made of sand. Sea bottom is made of sand. River bottom is made of sand. Sand castles are made of sand. Sand play is made of sand. Filtration in water-treatment facilities is made of sand. Septic systems are made of sand. Paint is made of sand. Nail polish is made of sand. Solar panels are made of sand. Wind turbines are made of sand. Billion dollar business is made of sand.
Produced by TILT. Spectra | Salons are made possible by the financial contribution of the Gemeente Amsterdam / Stadsdeel Oost. Supported by Marci Panis.
