Pick up Voices
performance by Myriam Van Imschoot, in collaboration with Christine De Smedt
Pick up Voices is a monstrous piece as it uncannily balances on the boundaries of many a register: shadow play, lecture, performance. It seeks to find new ways for alternative history rooted in orality and documentary performance.The source material that constitutes the dramaturgy of this piece derives from the transcribed interviews with artists (dealing with improvisation) and is memorized by Christine De Smedt who 'replays' the excerpts as if she were a living human recording device. She is channeling voices of others through the filter of her own timbre and body, bastardizing gesturality and tonalities. The overhead projector is used as an imaginative tool to structure and refracture the stories being told. Even more, it becomes an agent in itself, so that overhead and performer get entangled in a duet for image and voice.
Pick up Voices premièred during the Intimate Strangers festival, curated by Meg Stuart (December 5 2008). The piece took place in the Board Room of Kaaitheater in Brussels and was played as a 30 minute ‘loop’ for small audience groups of 12 to 15 people. It was part of a ‘parcours’ that besides Pick up Voices showcased installations, music concerts and dance pieces of international artists from the fields of performance, dance and experimental music.
This performance was made in the context of the artistic historical research project Crash Landing Revisited (and more).
Credits concept: Myriam Van Imschoot creation & performance: Myriam Van Imschoot & Christine De Smedt sound samples: Vincent Malstaf camera: Pablo Castilla outside eye and co researcher: Kristien Van den Brande production: Damaged Goods co production: Les Ballets C. de la B., WorkSpaceBrussels & Sarma special thanks to: Kaaitheater, WorkSpaceBrussels, Jeroen Peeters, Jo Huybrechts, Jérôme Bel, Maria La Ribot, Xavier le Roy & Mark Tompkins