SOUVENIR
a staged reading by
Isabelle Jenniches & Stefan Kunzmann
performer: Frans Poelstra
sound artist: Henry Alles
readers: Geert Mak, Carel Alphenaar, Gabriëlle Marks,
Andrée van Es, Sandra Rottenberg, Theodor Holman
de Balie, Amsterdam 2000
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SOUVENIR describes past and present Amsterdam as shaped by it's inhabitants and travelers; their movements and stories constitute the city's ever changing identity. SOUVENIR follows some tales and journeys using text excerpts, film archive and contemporary video material, graphics on slides and sound.
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SOUVENIR was performed as opening act for the congress weekend Amsterdam Wereldstad-Sale Amsterdam -in the symposium's decor and with the available technology. The audience is seated on small tables grouped around a panel-discussion set-up in the center of the space, above which hangs a projection screen. The 7 readers are seated dispersed throughout the theater.
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During the approximately 16 minutes of the performance all these elements -like instruments in a musical composition -follow a detailed score (excerpt). Sound artist Henry Alles generates a low-level ambient soundscape by transforming the sound of the voices. The text Amsterdamby Cees Nooteboom, read byCarel Alphenar >> serves as timekeeper for the whole piece, providing the cue points. Towards the end, writer Geert Mak begins his lecture, while the chorus of voices fades out.
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Meanwhile, performer Frans Poelstra travels from theater top to floor, leaving a trace of souvenirs - small, packaged objets-trouvées. Sometimes, he gets captured by a live camera; this image is then superimposed onto the video projection.
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