Sunday, August 28, 2011

Telling an Ikonstory at Greenbelt

Ikon at Greenbelt 2011 - photo by Ben Jones, twitter.com/DJSofaKid

Most years - though not last year - Ikon travels across to the Greenbelt Festival in Cheltenham and offers a 'gathering' to the appreciative and bemused people.

This year they had the 9pm slot in the Big Tent. No pressure there then!

@RichardFWatson: Best #gb11 moment so far. Silently looking into the eyes of a stranger and knowing we were part of the same story. #ikonstory

Hopefully someone videoed the session - or a version can be replayed in Belfast in the autumn.

Through arresting meditations on memory and forgetting, on the lies in our truth and the truth of our lies, this thought provoking session poignantly reminded that whilst our stories are important, they are not as precious as each other, and that new experiences compel us to destroy our stories and imaginatively re-write them.

This dream-like sequence of performance artistry and guerrilla theology was compellingly drawn to a close with a powerful act of ritual, whereby we were instructed to hold the gaze of a stranger, grasp each other’s hand and imagine their name and story before whispering our own names.

But in the meantime, the Greenbelt Festival blog gives a tantalising glimpse into the Inception-esque multi-layered story that the Ikonographers told.

And (ex-/remote-)Ikon regular Cary provides an interesting perspective from Nashville.

Photo via Ben Jones

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Alan! (Shirley)