Elite Introductions was an attempt to broker conversations between the regular users of Ebertplatz and a transient arts audience, without making either party feel vulnerable, and to give the 'locals' an opportunity to participate in and have ownership over artistic content in the festival, which chose Ebertplatz as a hub.
The performance took the form of a speed dating event run by Elite Introductions - an international lifestyle concierge. One “date” was a pre-recorded interview with a “local”. Audiences were invited to listen to their date and respond by letter, with guidelines given.The questions were generic speed date questions and participants were invited to reinvent themselves or talk themselves up as much as they wished. Each responded in a unique way: one singing and talking about his aspirations as musical artist, another about a dream to be like Obama and create positive global change, and still another using it as a platform to talk about her experiences of police brutality. Inteviews were conducted in French and English, then edited with some music added.
The recordings were made using in-ear binaural microphones and replayed in headphones at the precise same location, creating an audio illusion where the listener's brain believes the match between what is seen and what is heard in space, but is confused by the disjunct between what is seen and what is heard in time. A woman passes very close behind you, but you see two men; people argue on your right but there is no one there. This brings an altered reality to the listening experience, a secondary architecture of ghost sounds and memories. We hear the space then. We see it now. Your date is there but is not there. s/he is in No-place. You are are in another place, a hybrid third space.
Audiences in the dark underpass discover a table with a pristine tablecloth. A suited host serves mineral water in sparkling champagne flutes. There are instructions on the table, expensive writing paper and an ashtray. Letters will be hand delivered. Participants can see the audience at any time, but audience can only meet participants with their consent. Otherwise the audience remained free to imagine which if any of the people hanging around that day had been their “date”.
Did you come here looking for friendship, love, or something else?
The structure echoes the quickfire structure of a drug deal, where identities are simultaneously played and concealed. The performed frame pretends a different set of economic realities, another fleeting meeting between two “other” global citizens. A market responds to needs. Happiness is pursued. Inspired by Bauman's perfect tourist and the vagabond, we overlay realities, moving in the story from migration as suffering to mobility as an inalienable human right and back again.
The piece performs the difference in what it means to be not-from-here if you are poor or super rich, and is at the same time a real conversation between 2 people who may never meet.
