Listening to the Planets

A satellite solo. A struggle to locate oneself

by Ari Teperberg

“...And man to man down upon earth
As planet to planet above.” (Rachel Blowstein, 1928)

When our GPS system tries to find a location it sends signals to four satellites. The time difference between the arrival of the satellites’ signals back to our phones tells us where we are.

In a bare solo piece that combines text, sound, movement and object work Ari tries to understand where he is. By splitting and extending himself, he measures the various distances around and within him, tracing the delay between the sending of his messages and their arrival.

Is he the satellite or its planet? 

Listening to the Planets weaves together a personal journal of the performer with a historical research about a composer, along with abstract images that derive from the study of satellites, star constellations, interstellar communication and delay.

 The act of art-making becomes a means for time-travel, bridging between a time of crisis and an imagined future: It forges a piece of life within despair and violence into form that will hopefully outlive the darkness and preserve some of its turbulence in order to support a belief in the artistic act as a possibility for an empathetic and peaceful exchange.  

 The piece offers an exploration of the intersection of technology and performance through a very analogue and bare performative approach. The work’s materiality introduces simple yet highly metaphorical electronic means - phones, selfie-sticks, earphones and the theatrical apparatus of the PA system. This establishes an intimate interaction with recent (almost retro) technological tools that function as companions, communicators, eavs-dropping devices, listening-inducers. They distance and bring closer at the same time, split the self and with the risk of navel gazing allow for self-observation.