The Tyranny of Distance
*A Constructed World, Hobbes Opera (Part 1 and 7 Nation Army), 2008-2015*
Performances at CAPC, Bordeaux and at ESBA TALM, Angers
"Maud: I think that this hopefulness for connectivity also can link us to the work by A Constructed World.
Sébastien: Yes. This piece that we have chosen by A Constructed World is called Hobbes’ Opera. Initially it was part of a concert that they did using a guitar with seven arms. During the concert they had many people playing on the guitar at the same time, and they played several pieces this way, among them the song seven nation army. Then during the concert they cut the guitar in seven pieces. Then later with this fragmented guitar they did concerts where the players performed in different rooms. So for the public to have the experience of the concert, they had to move through the building.
Maud: In their works, A Constructed World often recruits people who don’t know how to do something, or don’t consider themselves experts. A Constructed World call this a community of not-knowing. So even as this piece is about dispersing an experience across distance it’s also about bringing together this community of people who don’t know, and the possibility of what ‘not- knowing together’ is going to create.
Sébastien: But it’s also based on the acknowledgement of fragmentation. That people are connected by the fact that they are a fragmented entity, and they are distant from the other but they are bounded together through this fragmented environment.
Anna: I think it’s great to end thinking about this relationship between proximity and fragmentation. We really hope that you like the show. And thank you again for coming."
This text is an excerpt from the performance The Infiltration by Joshua Schwebel whose project was to infiltrate the curators’ position in the exhibition. Read more