We watched the wind dislodge
the top layers of paper from the precarious temporary sculpture of cans, newsprint,
food wrappers and wastes piled to over flow on the rubbish bin right next to
the closed-up Kebab Burger Soft Drink & Fries Van…
What will happen? I said.
We watched the papers skid and
slide intermittently on the paving slabs, uncertain of their newfound freedom
in space.
Not-Ahmed
said; Art is a place that speaks vividly, that speaks
language back to life, that re-animates ideas, turns them round, turns them
over. Art is a place that breaks an old idea, breaks it open, makes a new one
in it. Art is a tool for navigation, better than GPS. It’s a weapon also better
than a petrol bomb.
Performance? I said.
I believe in that, he said. Performance creates a space in which different kinds of contact are
possible, different kinds of conversations. It is a place to step out of, side
step from the general tendency to commodified lust wrapped, crushed and hidden in panic
and terror.
We sat a while longer.
Then Not-Ahmed made to go.
The moon was full. You could see and hear
everything. The city lights, the distant traffic, the litter skidding and the
moon on the water.*
* An extract from Moon
Story,
Tim Etchells, Sheffield, 2012
Etchell’s interdisciplinary practice shifts between performance, visual
art and fiction. He has worked in a wide variety of contexts, notably as the
leader of the world-renowned performance group Forced Entertainment.
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