NOVEMBER, 2004, CHARLESTOWN WORKING THEATER, BOSTON, USA, PERFORMANCE IN COLLABORATION WITH MARI NOVOTNY-JONES
DESCENT, DISSENT
FILM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g86zwfanIlo
We are in a place of despair concerning the state of the world. The growing concerns about possibility of never ending wars in order to"export our values" leaves us wondering if the current method of dealing with everything in a kind of simplistic binary system - Terrorists/Victims, Moslem/Judeo-Christian, Evil/Good, War/Peace - is the only way that we can ever think about problems. This characterizing lacks imagination and thwarts measures to negotiate beyond the expectations of aggression. We believe there is a need to examine America's (current company in power) position in the global community. Certainly, there would seem to be an affirmation to the complexity of the world view in this period of the new millennium. During these times, we feel as though we are posturing and bullying, staking our claims to the full rights we see extended to us by our victim status. That brings us to our piece. How do we awaken from this recurring nightmare? Can the world be sleepwalking into an endgame, a descent into a hellmouth reminiscent of a Court Masque? Protest is underreported. Where are the voices of dissent? It seems like nothing matter any more. It looks like we are entering a time where selfishness is elevated to the status of sainthood. Our work embraces the themes of collapse, of falling, of capitulation. But we want to know whose collapse, falling and capitulation? We are working elements of text and image and sound. We are finding ways to unify these elements around consistent materials and the use of theme and variation: the culmination ending in a final note that is more of a surrender than an affirmation of what could be.
Milan Kohout, Mari-Novotny Jones,1998, Berlin Wall, Mobius, Boston
