Presented in partnership with Québec Government Office London
ADAM KINNER + CHRISTOPHER WILLES
(Montreal)
MANUAL
THUR 26 OCTOBER 2023 - 10:00 - 19:00
FRI 27 OCTOBER 2023 - 10:00 - 16:00
SAT 28 OCTOBER 2023 - 10:00 - 16:00
40 min one-on-one - Bookable Slots / £8
Mitchell Library (Directions)
What to Expect: MANUAL is a guided experience for one person at a time, which involves reading together, moving around the space of the library, and listening to sounds. The performer/guide primarily uses hand written notes to facilitate the process with the viewer.
ACCESS: The Mitchell Library is a wheelchair accessible venue.
(Festival Access Page).
MANUAL is a one-on-one performance that turns a public library into a space of sensory encounter and heightened awareness. Staged covertly during public hours, participants arrive on site with instructions to meet a guide who leads them silently through a series of subtle events, following written notes and immersive audio in headphones. They walk through the space and listen together. They look at books and read to each other. Sounds and images found in the library combine and blur. And as the piece progresses the materials they encounter come to form a manual for slowing down. Intermingling with the daily life of the library, MANUAL proposes a performance that develops through the act of listening and reading with another person. Through a slow and careful process, this piece stages a quiet meditation on the library as a meaningful space of connection and awareness.
Adam Kinner and Christopher Willes create performances that explore unusual states of sensory awareness. Often staged in public spaces, their collaborations stem from an interest in the sensory intelligence of sound, audience positionality, and the aesthetic and political possibilities that participatory performance can sometimes unearth. They both have been active in the music and contemporary dance milieux over the past decade. Their previous project, Listening Choir, was shown in Canada and the United Kingdom. They created MANUAL in collaboration with Hanna Sybille Müller.
OFFICIAL CREDITS
Co-created by: Christopher Willes and Adam Kinner
Dramaturgy: Hanna Sybille Müller
Glasgow performers: Adam Kinner, Hanna Sybille Müller, Christopher Willes, and Chao-Ying Rao
Performance contributions: Alexa Mardon, Denise Kenney.
Audio contributions: Michael Davidson, Colin Fisher, Thomas Gill, Terri Hron, Philippe Lauzier, Germaine Liu, Philippe Melanson. Karen Ng, and Felicity Williams.
Production assistance: Seán Talbot
Development credits: Created with the support of: Conseil des arts du Canada, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Ontario Arts Council, Festival TransAmériques, and through creation residencies at Take Me Somewhere (Glasgow), and LA SERRE – arts vivants (Montreal).
Photos: © David Wong
