When was the last time you stayed awake from dusk till dawn?
In a 12-hour performance this weekend, Malaysian theatremakers Arief Hamizan, Bryan Chang, and Tung Jit Yang will attempt to piece together "never-ending thoughts" that people experience.
This theatre piece, called EveryThoughtI’veEverHad: Contemplating The Origin Of The Sun, will be staged at the KongsiKL arts warehouse on April 16, starting 7.18pm. It will also be streamed live via Twitch.
"The piece is an exploration into the fact that we seem to have an endless mind. An endless train of thought. Like it never ever stops. As you sleep and at every waking moment your mind has thoughts. We are trying to deal with this simple yet profound fact in the performance," explains Tung, director in residence at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac).
Audiences are welcome to come and go as they please during the 12-hour show, or to stay for the entire time. If you’re fasting, bring over some food to buka puasa with your friends, or for sahur before the sun rises while watching the theatre performance.
"I feel a sense of daunting heading into the performance, of not truly knowing what is in store for us or the audience. We are setting out to capture a glimpse of our own infinite streams of consciousness, this never-ending cavalcade of thoughts, emotions, and experiences.
"We don’t know what we’ll find. But I think that creates a space for wonder and revelation, and I hope that becomes a shared experience for everyone who participates," offers Arief, co-founder of Panas Panas Theatre.
EveryThoughtI’veEverHad is part of the Japan Foundation, Kuala Lumpur’s Kaleidoscope Japan: Online Exhibition.
This month-long exhibition (ending on April 24) is a hybrid presentation, exploring the Malaysia-Japan relationship via visual art, moving images, performance, music and literature.
It features work from 13 Malaysian artists who reflect on their observations and hopes revolving around Japan and its relationship with Malaysia, from a social and cultural perspective, as well as the political and economical climate.
EveryThoughtI'veEverHad, in particular, looks into questions such as what is a stream of consciousness and how do we deal with and navigate through this seemingly endless stream of thought that exists within us.
The research paper "Describing Inner Experience? Proponent Meets Skeptic" by American psychologist Dr. Russell T. Hurlburt, published in 2007, served as the group's starting point.
In this experiment, a young woman was fitted with a beeper that randomly prompted her to record everything that was happening in her experience several times a day for the duration of the experiment.
Following a nearly one-month improvisational journey of Dr Hurlburt's experiment on inner experience, Arief, Chang, and Tung produced the 12-hour-long show based on their findings.
The theatremakers will also examine their own personal relationships with Japan, focusing on the intersections of memory and policy in the country.
More info here.
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