LEST WE
SEE
WHERE
WE ARE
Related works -
This is Not My Voice Speaking (the recorded voice)
The Quiet Volume (the reading voice, silent)
Ok Ok (the reading voice, aloud)
Hello for Dummies (the acousmatic voice)
Photo - Jessica Huber
by Ant Hampton and Tim Etchells
by Tim Etchells & Ant Hampton
Research and assistant direction - Jessica Huber
voices - Nicolas Galeazzi, Lars Studer, Yoshii Riesen
recording advice – Tito Toblerone
audio platform / development – Toby Duckworth
thanks to - Staatsarchiv Basel, Paul Bachmann, Jeannette Voirol, the Novartis Archiv, Florida Cafe, Ute Sengenbusch, Valerio Soluceos
Studio support from Pianofabriek kunstenwerkplaats, Brussels
A «Second Cities – Performing Cities» Production – A European Network Operated By: Hellerau – European Center For The Arts Dresden (Ger), Kaserne Basel (Ch), Ringlokschuppen Mülheim An Der Ruhr (Ger), Tap – Théâtre Et Auditorium De Poitiers (Fr), Le Maillon, Théâtre De Strasbourg, Scène Européenne (Fr), Spring – Performing Arts Festival Utrecht (Nl), Teatr Laznia Nowa, Nowa Huta/Cracow (Pl).
With the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union.
On Voltaplatz, an event in two halves: one inside Florida Cafe, the other just outside on Gasstrasse. Lest We See Where We Are is Ant Hampton’s latest in a series of 'autoteatro' works exploring voice - ignored or buried aspects of it - and the second made together with Tim Etchells.
Alone, we look out of the cafe window and compare what we see to the archive photographs on the table. From this exact vantage point, a line is gradually drawn into various pasts: that of Novartis - one of the world's biggest companies, whose campus defines the skyline - as well as the physical, human and ecological histories in its shadow. At a certain point this line snaps. Outside, we find ourselves in a fantasy of public speaking. We're holding a portable stereo against our chest which vibrates as an amplified voice seems to emerge and bounce off the walls of Voltaplatz as it speaks 'for us':
"I’m the person standing in the photograph from 2014. The one standing in a doorway on Gasstrasse, holding a portable stereo… and thinking about the future."
This 'binaurally projected' voice is thinking aloud, trying to get a handle on what the future might look like, trying for once not to ignore it. Appearing almost as an opposite to Hampton and Etchells' previous collaboration The Quiet Volume - which explored the inner voice through silent reading and whispers - 'Lest...' is concerned instead with thinking aloud; voice as the lever of thought. Binaural recordings and an unusual use of simple technology again combine to produce a visceral and reflective experience.
