Memory Police, Prague Quadrennial 2023.
Created by a collaborative group of 2nd year students from Wimbledon College of Arts in London, this walking performance responds to themes suggested by the book The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa. The book is set on a fictional Island where objects disappear and all memory of them are erased by a sinister police force: hats, ribbons, roses and even birds are vanished forever. Addressing issues of totalitarianism and resistance, loss and community the performance is a reaction to the post-pandemic, late capitalist, right-wing populist, climate emergency era that we find ourselves living through. Originally published in Japanese in 1994, the book’s recent translation into English has resonated with the contemporary moment through the prevalence of unease, the loss of connection with others, the rise of fake news and the immateriality of digital platforms.
Audience members are given headphones, placed into small groups and guided along the banks of the Vltava river. Through their headphones audiences are immersed in the world of the performance through text, music & soundscapes. At various proximities on their journey – nearby, in the distance – the audience encounter costumed performers and props that resonate with what they hear and draw them into the world of the Memory Police themes. Through a pre-recorded and live interaction, the performance layers the fictitious world of The Memory Police onto the contemporary landscape of Prague, in which Prague’s birds, people, objects and landscapes also become unknowing actors in the narrative. In this configuration, the live and the recorded interact and animate as the audience walk the route.
