ITA ENG

Interview with Marianne Weems of “The Builders Association” Francesca Ezzelino

Since 1994, when it was founded, the performance and media company “The Builders Association” has been investigating the uses of technology in theatre, in order to talk about the complex relationship between technology itself and our lives. Directed by Marianne Weems, the company has been touring around the world with great success and will participate to Zero One San José in August.

Where does the name “Builders Association” come from?

Marianne Weems: We started 12 years ago by building a full-scale, “deconstructed” (Matta-Clark-like) house within an enormous industrial space. The house was lined with video and sound triggers which the performers activated as they moved through the house performing the Ibsen play “The Master Builder.” It was a utopian moment ­ the show, the house, and eventually the company emerged in that 8 months of collaboration which involved architects, software designers, film and video makers, sound and lighting designers, live musicians, and of course the performers.

So why do you think is it so important to eliminate the boundaries between different disciplines when creating a show?

M.W.: It’s not so much the elimination of boundaries as the continuation along a spectrum of disciplines with many overlaps. My job is to orchestrate them so that you’re not looking at the boundaries.

Many of your projects have a long duration, generally a couple of years. Why is that?

M. W.: These projects are built in a very inclusive manner ­ all of the technology, the designers, the writers, and the performers are present in very early rehearsals. This practice has allowed us to develop projects in which the technology is truly integrated into the productions ­ the content and form are interlinked on a deep dramaturgical level. Additionally, it also takes time to fundraise and to literally to build these shows ­ there are a lot of people involved and a lot of phases of development. Of course if the funding were already in place it’s possible we could move at a faster pace, but this is the way it’s developed so far.

I should add also that each project tours for at least two years after it’s premiere, so there is a justification which balances the long development periods.

Is there a link amongst your works? If so, which one?

M.W.: All of our projects, including SUPER VISION which we’re bringing to Zero One, have to do with using technology to tell stories about technology and complications of identity ­ rich stories, real stories that are drawn from contemporary events. Each project looks at the cultural artefacts and effects of mediatization; through this lens we have engaged with subjects as disparate as travel (Jet Lag which we developed with the architects Diller + Scofidio), outsourcing (Alladeen, developed with the South Asian company motiroti), and of course the data sphere in SUPER VISION, which we developed with dbox.

Which visual effects do you generally aim to obtain in your shows?

M.W.: As far as the stage picture goes, the Builders’ projects set up a fictive relationship between the liveness of the performers and the liveness of technology, creating a kind of web of media around the performers, which they and technical operators “play” and animate in each show.

James Gibbs, founder of dbox, adds: “We set ourselves a challenge in SUPER VISION to go beyond creating ‘virtual sets’. In this work the visuals are sometimes representational, but they are also sometimes abstract. They refer to both the tangible and the intangible elements in the storylines, and they also have a level of interplay and tension with the spoken text. Some of this is suggested directly by the material— the performers are enmeshed not only in their physical world, but in the world of their data as well. And despite how complex this is visually, I think the audience feels mostly at home with it; they recognize it as the world they live in now”.

In many of your works social problems, like the condition of black people in New York (“Invisible Cities”) or the aftermath of a factory shutting (“Avanti”), are the starting point. How much do you think your work can contribute to change public opinion regarding issues like these?

M.W.: Our projects act as a springboard for discussion in each venue they’re presented in. For instance, when we presented Alladeen at the Barbican Centre in London there were riots going on since British Telecom had just outsourced thousands of jobs to India, and there were similar demonstrations going on in Seattle and even in Bogotá when we were there. The website for Alladeen (www.alladeen.com) received tens of thousands of hits from around the world (outsourcing being a global tale) and the artifacts left on the site were then incorporated back into the performance on a nightly basis.

In “Supervision” it seems clear to me that you consider technology as a very ambiguous tool, which helps us but also introduces lots of issues concerning our life and even our identity. Can you explain that? Do you think there is a limit which should be respected?

M.W.: Yes, we are definitely staging both the pros and cons of that ambiguity. No, I don’t think we’ve come close to any limits yet.

So, everything considered, how do you see the relation between us and the data about us, which determine our correspondent data bodies?

M.W.: That relationship is staged in the performance.

If you couldn’t use technology in theatre, do you think you would still enjoy your job as much as you do now?

M.W. : Since these projects are about living on the frayed edges of the techno-sphere, I’m not sure that I’d have a job.

Aren’t you afraid that a massive use of technology can lead to ‘cold shows’’ where it’s difficult to participate for the public? How do you try to avoid this happening?

M.W.: We use “real-life” stories that pack emotional content.

Do you think your shows are easily accessible to a wide public, or are they just for a few?

M.W. : Storytelling is always accessible, and these stories are there for everyone.

http://01sj.org/content/view/27/48/