[yet-to-be-named] gathers weekly, gives out tasks to be performed, in the aim of investigating process and methodology, as they explore the making of new performance works.

today, the third installment.

tasks:
1. Find the quietest spot in the vicinity
2. Find a very special thing, and in your best way, share/explain/describe that
3. Postcard (as attached), with a 5 cent coin stuck on the stamp spot

Generally, the tasks led us to Carlton Gardens, be it directly, or indirectly.

There was the use of the sense of smell, Lauren bringing a lemon, and Jamie, freshly cut grass.

Lauren finding her way to a specific cubicle at the Melbourne Museum for her quiet spot, Jamie silencing the surroundings in a photograph, and Dan leading us to stairwells and rooftops. It was a beautiful spring day, with temperatures up for something like 23degrees – and there was something in the vastness of the sky, the sound of gushing water from the fountain, and a booming hum of a massive air vent, that contributed to the search for silence. And more so, it seemed, when you take people out of the equation, there, you find quiet.

And yet, people played a big part in today’s experiences. Dan’s special moments came from a compliments, both subtle and overt. Just from walking down the street! Go Dan Koop! So we reenacted that walking round the block, with instructions that Dan led us with, Lauren became the subject. It felt like a second task from the other tasks when we were led through Dan’s experience.

Special things also come through difficult things, when Lauren chanced upon a lemon tree behind the gates of a church, but couldn’t reach it. She settled for a lemon from the IGA, that still smelt pretty good I must say, but it’s not quite the same. It was A lemon, not The Lemon. Just like quiet could not be found, even in a park, when your cellphone’s ringing with messages from a friend back home. The heart is never still. And so a constant humming, an open sky, water gushing…

We explored the differences between a longing, and a wish. The vastness of a longing, the duration of a longing, the gravity of having a longing – versus the direct, specific, phrased, wish. What happens when you’ve attained a longing? And stop longing? And a wish, an ideal. Which of these is bigger than us? We work towards that longing, in strive of achieving an end goal, and yet a wish, quite out of our own hands?

:a search, to find, to discover.