The Ship, a varieté underwater

About

The Ship is a performance concept based on the composition The Sinking of the Titanic by English composer Gavin Bryars. He gathered inspiration for the piece from both the idea of memory and the eternal continuation of time and sound in underwater conditions. 2012 was the centenary of the sinking of the mighty ship off the coast of Newfoundland. Her collision with an iceberg was a terrible tragedy which killed over 2000 people but also became a symbol for the collision between modern technology and the forces of nature – hubris followed by catastrophe.

The Ship is a performative landscape generated from these ideas. The theme is approached on the one hand through popular imagery based on James Cameron’s film, where melodrama and the theme of eternal love replace the icy and lethal reality in our imagination giving it an aura of romanticism, on the other hand referring to Marconi’s idea of the eternal continuation of sound under water. From these elements emerges the underwater varieté in which the personal imagery of the audience combines with the collective consciousness and our shared cultural imagination.

The first version of The Ship was performed in Kiasma on 24th and 25th of October 2014 as part of Poikkeustila – performing arts event.

The second version of The Ship was performed in Eskus Performance Center in Helsinki in November 2014.

Credits