USELESS DATA / LISTENING TO MATERIALS

USELESS DATA / LISTENING TO MATERIALS

INFORMATION BEFORE ART

Overlie encourages extensive collection of information that may initially appear artistically useless.

The artist does not immediately ask:

How can I use this?

They first ask:

What is here?

LISTENING

The material can become a teacher.

The performer studies:

• details;
• qualities;
• patterns;
• durations;
• relations;
• physical consequences.

CONTROL

The impulse to own or control material is temporarily suspended.

WORKSHOP PARALLEL

Grazing required performers to collect:

• sounds;
• smells;
• architecture;
• atmosphere;
• spatial information

without knowing in advance what would become performance material.

SELECTION

Not all data is retained.

Later selection becomes an informed artistic decision rather than an automatic habitual response.