This is the Word for Fisherman
2 October 2009
ZOOM! Westereuropa, Hildesheim, Germany
Duration: 20 minutes
In This is the Word for Fisherman I begin by encoding series of objects as elements of a story, both verbally and in Sign language. For example, the shoe is the fisherman, the table is the boat and the book is the land. Each audience member is also given a card with the code printed on it. The objects are then arranged and rearranged in silence to visually describe the tale of a fisherman's quest to catch a fish but where the seagull always gets it first.
Between each day sequence there is a night sequence, in which one of the objects has a dream. Here, new un-encoded objects are introduced and the audience must use the provided code in order to interpret the dreams. For example, if the table dreams of a potted plant and the table is a boat, what does the boat dream of?
Three versions of the same narrative are told, at the start of which, the same objects are reintroduced as different elements of the story. The performance uses a didactic code in order to create moments that are open to interpretation (the dreams).
Feedback from the audience varied greatly. While certain audience members were able to recite the full three versions of the story plus their own interpretations of the dreams, others told me they understood nothing at all.
