Speaking of Silence

I hear you...

2008-05-12T21:53:00.003-04:00

It's become clear from the lack of response to my posts over the past year that this is simply not the right place to gather stories and start a dialogue about this subject. I wish I knew why. But the silence in response to a call for interaction and communication has sent a very loud message. I'm listening. And the sound of one's own voice calling out gets tiresome and unhealthy after a while.

I've decided to let this project go and try to find a way to create WITH others more actively. It is what I most love to do and it's been a very long time since I've been able to do it.

I will be closing down and deleting the blog in a month after the Strindberg and Beckett performances are complete. Do come see them! Do tap me afterwards say hello. And do comment here in the meantime.

Thank you to all who have participated so far. I hold your stories close and am honored to be their caretaker.

Keep on telling your story.

Gina

Young Women - Speaking Up ?

2008-04-14T20:06:00.003-04:00

Today's theme is young women. Are you a young woman? Have one as a friend? Do you think a young woman's relationship to silence is different from a young man's. How about an older woman? Why or why not?

If you are a young woman, how do you feel about silence?

Do you believe, as some have stated, that young women "talk too much"? What evidence do you have for this?

Do you believe, as others have stated, that it's harder for girls to "find their voice" and speak up as they enter their teenage years? What evidence do you have for this?

Simply click on "comments" below to respond. Be honest! Thanks.

Women and Silence

2008-04-11T11:42:00.005-04:00

This will be the theme of the audio piece between the Strindberg and Beckett at the June performance.

There are many questions related to this subject and we expect to hear from a wide variety of voices and opinions to use as the raw material for the piece. We'll start posting a question a day for the next few weeks to generate specific thoughts and responses around certain themes.

But for now - anything that springs to mind about this subject that you'd like to share?

Some of you have asked for instructions about how to leave a comment. Simply click on the tiny work "comments" at the end of this post. (If people have already left comments the word will have a number in front of it, i.e., "3 comments".) This will open a new page, where you can read the comments others have left and with a box to the right where you can leave a comment yourself. You will also have the option of signing in with your name, or remaining completely anonymous. If you are anonymous, there is absolutely no way to tell who you are -- so feel free to be very honest!

Here's another plea to PLEASE leave comments! And please spread the blog to others. I'm getting a bit nervous that I won't have enough responses as raw material to construct a piece in which multiple viewpoints are honored. Plus, it's just nice to know people are out there.

No Comment

2008-04-07T11:01:00.003-04:00

Between the stillness of the reader count odometer and the lack of commentary, I'm beginning to question the efficacy of this little blog. Are you out there? Have you stopped looking? Commenting? Please leave a comment if you can- you can be absolutely anonymous -- and let me know if you still check in from time to time. I'll post another "Silence Question", too, in the meantime. Maybe that will spark some lively discussion!

Germination and Breaking Silence

Today's Question: What kinds of ideas or thoughts do you simply "sit with" for a while before sharing? What determines when you break the silence? What has it felt like when you did?

Is it my hair?

2008-03-31T20:08:00.005-04:00

We've had a change in plans for the June performance. Due to a number of circumstances beyond our control, Gina will now be performing two pieces by the well known playwrights whose pictures are shown below:

As one whose hair has always evoked *some* sort of reaction in most people, I feel I have a special bond with these two guys. And they both pushed the conventional boundaries of the theatrical traditions of their day with evocative portraits of the bleak and humorous landscape of the human condition. They moved me incredibly the first time I read them back in college. The very first scene I performed as a Drama major was from "Miss Julie" by August Strindberg, and I became downright obsessed with Samuel Becket about a year later after reading his novel Malloy. So, it seems only fitting to visit them again as part of the Silence Project.

Or maybe it's just about the hair.

The program for the June performance will now be Strindberg's "The Stronger" and Samuel Beckett's "Rockabye", with a short audio piece in between gleaned from the comments left on this blog and materials gathered from live interviews.

If you were looking forward to "Request Concert", don't worry. There are still plans in the works to mount this production at a later date. And we are in serious talks with a local radio personality who was recently silenced. He's very interested in being involved.

Stay tuned for more information, updates, and comment requests soon!

Breaking the Silence/Beginning the Project

2008-03-02T21:41:00.003-05:00

This is a Nikki S. Lee-esque image for the brochure promoting the silence show this summer. We've settled on the haunting one woman piece by Kroetz, "Request Programme', which focuses for an entire hour on the series of silent rituals performed by a working class single woman in her home in between work and bed. While the woman never speaks or interacts with anyone during the entire show, she listens to a popular radio program which combines various styles of music and interviews for much of her evening. This is where we'll be using many of the interviews and letters collected so far, in addition to putting out a call for original music from all genres that somehow deal with the theme of silence, breaking silence, etc. Interested in contributing? Got a band? A guitar? Some lyrics or a poem? An image you'd like us to consider for the limited visual elements of the piece? Stay tuned here for more information on how to contribute.

Of course, you can always write about the effect and purpose that silence has in your life at any time. Simply hit the comments button below and start typing. We've all been silent for a while in this tiny blogosphere, but it only takes one voice to get things started again.

Looking forward to hearing from everyone,

Gina

Whose Silence Bothers You the Most?

2008-01-10T22:30:00.000-05:00

The Day the Music Died?

2007-11-23T09:11:00.000-05:00

A poster promoting Britain's "Day without Music" this year.

November 21st, the day before Thanksgiving in the United States was Britain's Day Without Music. Bill Drummond initiated the day three years ago as an extension of his own experiment with aural fasting. Here's a link to the official site, as well as a wonderful Salon.com article about the viability of escaping the incessant drone of of manipulative music in public spaces in America and learning how to listen again. What do you think?

http://www.nomusicday.com/

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/11/22/no_music_day/

Silent Movies

2007-11-19T22:17:00.000-05:00

Love 'em? Hate 'em? Favorites? Why?
(FYI, the image above is from the gorgeous silent film, "The Passion of Joan of Arc". Click on the words "Silent Movies" for a wonderful database of silent cinema.)

What about the use of silence in the "modern" cinema? How about any scenes in which there is neither dialogue or music? Do you find the sound design of current popular cinema overwhelming or exciting? Why?

Hearing Aids

2007-11-08T21:03:00.000-05:00

How has your relationship to sounds and silence changed as you have aged? Have you “heard” less or more as you’ve matured? How do you think this has affected people’s perception of you?

Youth and Silence

2007-10-19T22:03:00.000-04:00

Below is a piece written by a young man at one of our "Conversations on Silence" held at a Public Library in Baltimore last night. If you are a young person, or interact with young people, or were at one of our library conversations, or have a piece of spoken word poetry, or have anything to say on this subject, please hit "comment" and add your voice to the dialogue.

"Free"
by Loverboy (aka., James Otis Thompson, Jr.)

I am Trapped in a cage sinking
Below the water

But I struggle to say
I can't Breathe

There are many fish in the sea
but I stand alone

But I struggle to say I
can't breathe

I've been shaped, re-placed
I've seen myself - so much I
wonder if I have the only face

i feel as though god gave me the
key and said let everyone be Free!!!

But I struggle to say
I can Breathe. . .

Free Speech?

2007-10-15T00:31:00.001-04:00

The next question for comment: Is silence generally liberating or oppresive to you? Has this changed for you over time?

(Click on "comment" below to leave your story/thoughts.)

I Hear What You're Saying

2007-10-10T09:11:00.000-04:00

This week's question: In what ways have you experienced communication without spoken language? What were these experiences like?

(In case you're interested, the images above are from the "typographic ballet" Body Language, in which a dancer contorts herself inside a specially-constructed spandex bag to create letters from the human form. Performed by: Amy Oldham)

Talk to Me

2007-10-01T17:01:00.000-04:00

"In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ever struggled with the silence of a friend or lover, or been a silent partner yourself?

Visions of Silence

2007-09-24T22:01:00.000-04:00

A lovely slideshow on the topic:
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2007/09/23/visions-of-silence/

Anyone else have images they'd like to share?

A Moment of Silence . . .

2007-09-23T20:01:00.000-04:00

Marcel Marceau died on Saturday. I've many thoughts on the life and work of this man whom I often imitated in my own crazed, silly way in my suburban family living room as a young girl. But my friend Lisa has written the most cogent and lovely thoughts on this extraordinary man. Check it out.

http://howsrobb.blogspot.com/2007/09/marcel-marceau.html

Hellllooooooo out there?!?!?!

2007-09-23T19:36:00.000-04:00

It's been a little silent out there so far, so I'm casting the net wider and also giving you all a few questions to prime the pump. Answer one question, or answer them all - it doesn't matter, just hit the comment button at the end of the post and break the silence.

• Is silence liberating or oppressive to you? Has this changed over time?

• Have you ever sought silence as a place of solace, meditation, or calm?

• Have you ever been silenced by another person or by your own fears and inhibitions?

• How has your relationship to sounds and silence changed as you have aged? Have you “heard” less or more as you’ve matured? How do you think this has affected people’s perception of you?

• In what ways has another person’s silence affected you? Have you ever attempted to speak for another person who couldn’t speak for themselves? What happened?

• When do you seek silence? What does silence provide you?

• When do you avoid silence? How does silence disturb you?

• In what ways have you experienced communication without spoken language? What were these experiences like?

• Have you ever felt incapable of really being heard? Have you ever had trouble really hearing someone?

• Is there a depiction of silence in film, literature, visual art, etc., that you find particularly meaningful?

No time/inclination to record? Feel free to mail your story to gbraden@artonpurpose.org or Art on Purpose, attn: Gina Braden, P.O. Box 8200, Brooklandville, MD 21022. All styles and formats welcome!

The First Written Submission

2007-09-21T11:56:00.000-04:00

Here is a self-proclaimed "stream of counsciousness" response from a musical colleague:

"Silence, the absence of sound makes music in the recesses of my mind. Silence makes music so much more thrilling, not knowing what is to come next, is it over or just time to catch a breath and reflect on the musical interlude the preceeded it? As I sit in my room listening to the silence (funny phrase "listening to silence") I somehow hear inside my head the music that was just made in my classroom. So am I really silent or does silence exist for me? I don't think so, except, perhaps, when deep sleep has overcomed me. I can't imagine a silent world where the sound of life has been asked to stop, for me, that would be physically painful, or, I guess, the finality of death. Is Silence really golden? Maybe for some, for me unreachable."

Question of the Day:

Does silence ever exist for you?

"

Two Interesting Links from Friends

2007-09-19T11:29:00.000-04:00

The above image is from a fascinating website about the quietest place in the United States. Checkout www.onesquareinch.com

As an urban dweller, the white noise of transportation is always present even in the quietest of moments, which makes me consider whether I could easily get to any place free of man made noise at all. I suspect this would be a huge challenge for any of us, even those who live in close contact with the natural world. Thanks, Sten!

And this incredible image of various types of silently expressed emotion is from a performance art piece a friend saw in Edinburgh this summer. Check out the review below from the London's Guardian.

"There certainly is in Six Women Standing in Front of a White Wall at C Soco, one of those sleeper shows that is fast becoming a huge word-of-mouth hit. Some people are returning again and again, and I can see why. The production is very simple. The audience gathers in a small room. At one end is a roped-off area and white wall with signs saying, “Please touch”. Six women, dressed in red, slowly enter the room and take their places against the wall. The women writhe and start scratching themselves, reminding you of small children deprived of love and affection. The audience is actively encouraged to touch and hug the women. When you do, these women spring upwards like young saplings, appearing to blossom before your eyes. Shortly after you withdraw your hand, they begin to wilt in front of you, their mouths opening in silent screams.

It is fascinating to watch - and the audience is part of the interest. You'd think that natural British reticence would make this show a no-hoper, but in fact watching is as intriguing as actually taking part. At one point, seeing a young woman withdraw her arm from one of the red figures and hold it just out of reach - simply standing there as the red figure suffered - was so unbearable to watch that I found myself obliged to intervene in what seemed like an act of terrible cruelty.

Six Women doesn't allow you to be passive. It gives the audience a responsibility, and while some may simply dismiss it as therapy rather than theatre, this intriguing performance-installation offers another example of how all our definitions of theatre are changing. And if hugging is included, that can only be a good thing."

WRITE NOW!

2007-09-18T12:02:00.000-04:00

Welcome! And thanks for visiting.

Your task, if you chose to accept it, is to take a bit of time to write. Write about silence. Period. The form is entirely up to you -- a monologue, your own crazed interior thoughts or rants, a short story about someone you've known who lost the ability/will to speak, an essay on having to interpret another's silence, a significant moment when you chose to remain silent, a fairy tale, allegory, poem, or song -- whatever you'd like. You may chose to write about the inability to speak, *forced* silence (by a political entity, one's own shyness, physical or mental disability, emotional gag order, social pressure), or *chosen* silence (the silence of cathedrals, the meditative rest of the mind, avoidance of the incessant talker who says nothing, etc.). Write about the glory of mimes if you'd like -- the choice is entirely yours! Lest the theme sound too dark, rest assured that all styles, from the gently comic, to the amusingly hostile, to the gloriously irreverent are welcome.

Post it here and start the conversation. Simply hit the comment button below and sign in anonymously or as a member of the blogging community and write whatever you'd like in the comment box. The box will automatically expand to fit your needs. Now, how often does life work that way? Enjoy!