Spooner’s Deadtime project asks the central question: If contemporary society adheres to a “performance principle”—a 24/7 demand to competitively “perform” (well) at all times—might there be a way to resist this “principle”? Or, in other words, does there exist an unfolding of a visceral “culture” that is not filled with planned activity and incessant fecundity? And how to make space for that which is not storyboarded nor prescribed; that which is erratic, electric and does not have its “performance function” calculated or determined in advance, and hence, by certain institutional and industrial standards, might appear to be “dead”?

As the final installment of Spooner’s Deadtime inquiry, this sonic exhibition is structured by a loud “beep”—repeating every 42 seconds, timing the exhibition’s pulse—and shaped by the visuals of two pinkish psoas-muscle-colored surfaces, sweeping the walls of O—Overgaden as an anatomical-architectural intervention. Against this “backdrop”, the show comprises a serial batch of 43:59-minute audio pieces. Among the audio works, played on large Fohhn speakers, one finds a cello player warming up in DEAD TIME (Melody’s Warm Up) (2022); a mother and daughter arguing about who forgot to feed the cat in WHAT HAPPENED?! A Conversation with my Mother (2024); a choreography of moves and breaths audible in the audio version of DEAD TIME (Maggie’s Solo) (2021); a breathing piece, Dancing Still Life on a Single Breath (2023); and the rising, fussing voices of young children counting in Principles (2022–).

In sum, the audible tracks choreograph the audience via spilling, undetectable, present, asynchronous, and persistent durational noise(s) coming from all directions.

The event is held in English and is free of charge; seating on a first-come-first- served basis. Please click here for more information about the symposium.