The Power of Listening

2009
live performance (40 minutes)
three-channel video installation (23 minutes)

What happens to people when they listen to public speakers? Do the things they hear add up to a collective field of knowledge? And if so, is such a field instrumental in politics? In a public meeting, a group of experts addressed these questions, using material on Youtube and Power Point to 
illustrate their theories. In the week after the event, all members of their audience were interviewed by telephone about their recollections of the meeting. On the basis of their statements, a reconstruction was written and then performed in the same venue by a group of actors. Words are put in the 
mouths of the wrong speakers, crucial information is missing, and one panel member doesn’t seem to exist any more.

The Power of Listening was presented as a video installation where recordings of the telephone interviews are superimposed over the words of the actors.

The Power of Listening

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2009, poster voor live performances, design by Sam de Groot



Witte de With, Rotterdam
Theater Frascati, Amsterdam
Prix de Rome