Curtain Machine (2007-08)
26 July to 27 July
Site work in Görlitzerstrasse 49, Berlin (Germany)
“Curtain Machine” consisted of three mechanical curtains controlled by a machine operator, Canadian dancer/choreographer Shannon Cooney. Located out of sight, in front of Shannon, were three speed/direction dials, one for each curtain. Using a set of performance instructions, audio and visual cues were used to determine when, how fast and how much to move each curtain layer. At night with the scrim-like fabric lit from inside, the space was visible through the fabric but visual access to the outside was severely limited; the aural cues were therefore critical. As machines were activated however, external environmental sounds were drowned out by machine sounds. As well, because of the surrounding architecture, many of the sounds bounced wildly creating confusion as to their origin. What resulted was a kind of conundrum - a score that seemed simple enough to perform – stand still, listen and respond with a turn of a dial – became an arduous performance.
