As If It Were The Last Time

2009

‘A deliberate slap in the face to the flashmob phenomena . . . it reshapes the cultural landscape.’ – Paul Currion

As If It Were The Last Time is a subtlemob about celebrating the present, about home, belonging and loss. A snapshot of the world around you, a chance to savour the moment, and make new connections with the people and the place surrounding you. This is no requiem, this a celebratory slow dance, a chance to present in the world, and to see it with fresh eyes.

What is a subtlemob? A subtlemob is an invisible flashmob, it integrates with the beauty of the everyday world, so only its participants are aware of it. It’s like walking through a film. It is experienced on headphones, and it is performed by you and hundreds of strangers. Armed with only an mp3 player it takes you on a cinematic experience of twists and turns. A mixture of narrative and richly textured music fills your ears. Different MP3 files are distributed to different audience groups, so while some perform simple actions, the others hear stories about these actions, so that everywhere they look the stories come alive in the world around them. The roles swap back and forth, sometimes you’ll just be watching, sometimes you’ll be following instructions. There’s nothing embarrassing or dangerous, you’re almost just playing yourself. There is no venue, there are no ushers, this is a performance organised and owned by its audience . . . try to remain invisible

Presented at :

Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), Microwave (Hong Kong), Media City (Seoul), Gameplay (New York), Indiecade (Los Angeles), Performance Space (Sydney), Tristram Bates (London), TPAM (Tokyo), Yokohama Triennial (Yokohama ), ArteMov (Sao Paulo), Forest Fringe (Edinburgh), 1912 (Nanjing), Tiandi (Chongching), Wellington Internatinal Festival (Wellington), SemiPermanent (Auckland), plus independent events in Liverpool, London and Birmingham

P1000380

IMG_2091

IMG_0821

IMG_1678

SONY DSC
P1000389

 

Credits

for Paul Walker ( 1979 – 2009 )

For this project circumstance is represented by Sarah Anderson & Duncan Speakman

Voices : Jess Marlowe, Jess Hoffman

Additional musicians : Leo Smee , Laura Groves

Developed with : Gemma Paintin, James Stenhouse, Uninvited Guests, Ed Rapley, Lucy Cassidy, Alex Bradley, Sita Calvert Ennals, Becky Hall, Tom Wainwright

Developed at Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol