An Autoteatro experience for two, Cue China (Elsewhere, Offshore) asks the pair to face each other through a glass teleprompter, which reveals a video conversation between creator Ant Hampton and a recently injured factory worker from China. This real footage is nestled within a curious fiction: over time the audience’s identities begin to literally merge with someone too often perceived as voiceless, ‘faceless’ and conveniently distant.
“To say their work makes up ‘the very fabric of our lives’ is no exaggeration. Our bodies are covered from head to foot in the clothes they make. All day long we touch and stare into the screens they assemble and clean. Our communications – such a major part of our lives now – are sent pulsing through the circuitry they solder together. Mass-produced, yes… but also hand-made. Whose hands? We’ve started hearing more about the workers’ conditions, their treatment, the hours, and the risks to their health and the distance from their families. Maybe we try not to give it much thought.” – Ant Hampton
Co-presented by Performance Space 122 and PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature.
Single Tickets $10
For an audience of two; tickets can be purchased individually or in pairs
Please arrive 10 minutes before your ticketed time.
Duration: 35 minutes
Also as part of PS122 Spring Season & PEN World Voices Festival:
The Quiet Volume, a collaboration between Ant Hampton & Tim Etchells
The Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
New York University
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
May 1 – 5,
Wed – Sat 12 – 8pm
Sun 1 – 8pm
Individual programs run every 40 minutes
Last program starts at 8:00pm
Ant Hampton is a performance maker, writer and director. He founded Rotozaza (1998 – 2008), a project which has explored the use of instructions given to unrehearsed “guest” performers, both on stage and, more recently, within more intimate structures sustained and played-out by the audience themselves (Autoteatro). Since 2008 he has initiated a number of collaborations: True Riches, with Tim Etchells; GuruGuru, with Joji Koyama and Sam Britton; The Bench, with Glen Neath. He continues an ongoing exploration of “live portraiture” with Greg McLaren as “The Other People” (La Otra Gente): structured encounters with people from non-theatrical milieu. He was chief dramaturge for “Projected Scenarios” at Manifesta 7 European Biennial for Contemporary Art, Italy. He has contributed to projects by Jérôme Bel and Forced Entertainment. www.anthampton.com
The Ninth Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York City, April 29-May 5, 2013. Writers from across the globe explore bravery in art, politics and personal life. The program will examine writers’ impact on political transformations in recent global hot spots such as Burma, Palestine, South Africa, Haiti, and Guantanamo Bay—as well as honor those small acts of bravery displayed in everyday life. Join us for a variety of events including panel discussions, one-on-one conversations, participatory workshops and performances at venues crisscrossing the city. PEN will feature several events in association with The Public Theater, a center for culture, arts and ideas, and partner with The Standard, High Line; and The Standard, East Village, serving as Festival hub www.worldvoicesfestival.org
Direction / concept / design – Ant Hampton
Assistant director / Video design & edit – Britt Hatzius
Construction and design assistance – Thomas Busse
Creative Production – Katja Timmerberg
Interview – Jia Jing-chuan and Guo Rui-qiang
Chinese translation and assistance – Chungchi Lee & Valarie Liu
Cue China (Elsewhere, Offshore) commissioned by Stefan Kaegi for ‘Idiom: Asian Investments’, Malta Festival, Poznan, (PL). Created with generous coproduction and support from Thomas Kraus and PAZZ Festival, Oldenburg, (DE). Further support from Vooruit, (BE) and Fusebox Festival (USA).