Stemming from Jennifer Walshe’s fascination with identity, the online world and how we inhabit digital ecologies, PERSONHOOD sees her collaborate with leading contemporary orchestra Oslo Sinfonietta, memorably expressive accordionist Andreas Borregaard and scenographer Aedín Cosgrove. In a time when our every moment is under surveillance, mined and commodified by technology we have extended our consciousness into, what does it mean to be a person? This overwhelming, profoundly original piece is an investigation into our very notions of ‘personhood’.
For hcmf// 2023’s opening concert, Borregaard is subject to a range of tests and procedures carried out by the other musicians on stage. As he plays the accordion, he performs obscure choreographies and is scored on them; how well can he fall over? Move objects? Drink strange-coloured movies? This taps into Walshe’s interests in the performer’s body as an essential and co-creating factor beyond operating instruments, brought into play through movement, dance, touch, song, shouts, screams and more – a discourse she refers to as ‘The New Discipline’.
Borregaard will also be forced to watch films laden with subliminal messages, created by Walshe and guitarist/composer Ragnar Árni Ólafsson. These testing experimentations render the stage an artful laboratory, where a live exploration of who Borregaard is forces the onlooking audience to ask questions of their own individuality, self-worth, presence, and identity.
