STILL is a site-specific installation that explores the relationship between waiting and labour. Waiting is a specific form of being in time, it’s the no-mans land between thinking and doing. Waiting is a provocation in today's society, in which continued hard work, high productivity and unbridled ambition have been elevated to the highest level of virtue. With STILL, Julian Hetzel investigates forms of work that primarily consist of waiting. The created spaces and encounters provoke the audience to examine their personal experience of waiting and reflect on its place in our society, as well as the values placed on both time and money.
It was important when designing the lights for this installation, to create authentic spaces for the public and performers to inhabit. I wanted to avoid any kind of theatrical representation of these spaces, and create the feeling of real spaces where the questions and interactions at the heart of this piece could take place. Some of the spaces utilised specific light frequencies or barely perceptible intermittent flashes aimed at affecting the public’s perception of the experience of time within the spaces.
"The highlight of this experience is the moment you walk into a room from a chilly waiting room and suddenly end up on the edge of a pond. In the distance you see a man, his back towards to you. The reeds are in bloom, crickets chirping, it even smells nice. And the man just stands there, turned away, staring into infinity. This is the image that Julian Hetzel was working towards. All the previous coldness and emptiness were required for this experience: the infinite stare, waiting for nothing, as the days pass before your eyes. For the first time there is colour, and how. Finally, in this poetic stillness, the wait is not oppressive but liberating." Theaterkrant***
Concept and direction: Julian Hetzel
Producer: SPRING Performing Arts Festival
Artistic advisor: Olivier Provily
Dramaturg: Manolis Tsipos
Conceptual advisor: Miguel Melgares
Sound design: Hannes Waldschutz
Nature container decor: Albert Kuipers / Kuipers Decorbouw
Light design: Vinny Jones
Photography: Thomas Lenden
Premier 15 May, 2014. SPRING Performing Arts Festival, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
