Separation
Performance
+ 30 min
Rethymno, Crete, Greece
May 7, 2009
This performance is about an effort to overcome the feeling of being separated. To be apart from a loved one, alienated, to be a stranger in a new land or territory, the longing to go back home. It is about the experience of travelling from place to place. To ask myself where is home and what will I find when I return to the point from where I departed. I combined the musical tradition of Crete with the experience and feeling of these emotions and thoughts. A very distinctive musical instrument throughout the island is the Lyra. It has a long history and many people still commonly play it. It is perhaps one of the most characteristic sounds that one can hear in Crete. But instead of choosing to use the real Lyra, I decided to use the wooden block that will later be carved to make the Lyra. By sitting down and holding this wooden block, I was dealing with the difficulties that the Lyra maker might face during the process of creation. I imagined the sound of the Lyra, before the block was turned into a beautiful instrument. The performance started in silence. I walked outside and separated myself from the audience, by the glass doors of the gallery. The time was decided upon sunset, and the light changed quite fast. When I left the room it was still light outside, but when it was getting dark, the audience could see their own reflection appearing in the window instead of seeing me. I finished the performance by coming back inside and turning on a recorded song played by the Lyra maker. I then walked out of the room, leaving the audience listening to the song.
Traditional Cretan songs (Sirtos and Pentozali) played by Nikos Papalexakis (Lyra).
Photographs taken by Nikos Doulos, Taf Hassam, Catalina Nistor.
Special thanks to Mark Kremer, John Heymans, Nikos Doulos, and Nikos Papalexakis.
For more information click on: www.dutchartinstitute.nl/gtbt/index.html