You Are Here at Lilian Baylis Studios

You Are Here at Lilian Baylis Studios

04 March, 2010
by: Benjamin Goode

Benjamin Goode tries to sum up the humdinger that is You Are Here at Lilian Baylis Studio

You are Here from deepblue is a comment on the aggregation and storage of data and assimilation of knowledge, so prevalent in these times of all-encompassing giant databases. From the outset it aims to draw you into this anonymous world. It’s a world of regimented pathways, where information is copied, recopied, transferred from a to b in strict conformity at the click of a mouse. Of course, sometimes, things do go horribly wrong.

The two protagonists, roles performed and created by Heine R Avdal and Mette Advardson, are the conduits through which we are able to interact, perceive and understand the premise of this conceptual archive. The audience are made to wait to take their seats while a pathway is plotted though the grid-like stage (an effect cleverly created by lining the stage floor with carefully placed sheets of A 4), clearing the way for us to access our seats. Once safely seated we are treated to a mish-mash of distinct forms from multimedia interactive art installation to contemporary dance.

The inoffensively costumed duo await instruction from an overhead LED display which emits 'computer says no' type alarmist proclamations such as 'You exist', 'Data Corruption', 'Delete!' They carry out actions and lead them to their logical and sometimes contradictory self-destructive conclusion. The performers are game participators in a show in which they are not the real stars. In this case the limelight hoggers are the mysterious operators behind the barrage of bleeps, bloops and lights that react and respond to the audience's often vocal expressions of surprise as we are faced with one technological wonder after another (to say any more would be to spoil the surprise).

While I am sure that it's all terribly ingenious and there's probably some overarching point hidden in the intricacies, looking round the faces of the audience it's plain to see that while You are Here is surprising and original, it also leaves one cold: there's just not enough cogent narrative held in any of the multifarious strands to captivate the attention of the audience for any length of time. Where it does succeed however is in bulldozing through the inhibitive barriers of human nature between you and the stranger sitting next to you, which in hindsight might actually be the point of the whole enterprise. 

Photo Credit: Giannina Urmeneta Ottiker

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Benjamin Goode