O. Lab #7: large space in the back of the mouth

Hold a scream and watch it infiltrate. Hold it long enough until it breaks and shoots out into space. Hold a scream until you are no longer whole, until your ignorance is exposed. Hold a scream and endure its unbearableness. You are vulnerable and therefore wounded. Your fate is originally or finally inseparable from mine. (This text contains quotes and paraphrases from Precarious Life by Judith Butler: The Power of Grief and Violence)

large space in the back of the mouth shares an analysis of vocal crying as a sonic phenomenon. Crying, as a symptom of grief, forces the crier’s bodily state to operate outside of control. In this sense, crying is incomprehensible and exposes the crier to a condition that is alien to themselves. This state of unknowing, as Judith Butler calls it, reveals how humans are connected to one another. The sonic composition of the cries is carried by, but detached from, the individual performers to allow space for the audience to engage with this state of unknowing. By staying with grief, we can return to a sense of human vulnerability, to collective responsibility for each other’s physical lives.

The first part of the research of large space in the back of the mouth was on display during O. 2024 as a graduation work, as part of Re:master Opera.

Credits

Concept, composition, direction: Diane Mahín, co-creation and performance: Virág Anna Virág, light, Diane Mahín, costume design: Miruna Vlad, artistic advice: Isadora Tomasi, composition advice: Jan Kees van Kampen, Hildur Elísa Jónsdóttir, Márton Menyhért, co-creation and performance rehearsal period: Unnur Birna J. Backman, photography: LNDWStudio, images: Diane Mahín, thanks to: Sjaron Minailo, Flavia Dzodan, Claron McFadden, Ari Teperberg, Meia Oei, Manuel Groothuysen, Parvaneh Moazzeni, Henrica van den Berg, Medialab, Sandberg Institute

About O. Lab

During O. Lab you get a glimpse into the rehearsal space of theatre makers, something that is normally reserved for a select group… Artists share their research questions with you and you as a visitor can give your valuable opinion about the prototypes and works-in-progress that you see. O. Lab in WORM is one big creative space and you have a front row seat to the making process!

About O. Lab

O. Lab offers the audience a peak into the theater makers' rehearsal rooms. Something that is normally reserved for the select few… Artists will share their research questions. As the visitor, you are invited to watch and express your valuable opinions about prototypes and works in progress. O. Lab in WORM is one big creative space and you will be sitting in the front row as the processes unfold!