Waiting Room. Immersive performance and sound installation. Flutgraben e.V. Space/Time Berlin. 2016
w/ Surround sound speaker system and separate wireless headphone system

Waiting Room was a "theatre" of desire and gaze situated in the territory of the audience, who while waiting for a performance came to understand that the performance was they, themselves. As with many of my performances, it is necessary that cameras not be seen. There was only one hidden camera used by an undercover audience—therefore visual representations are very limited. The document takes form instead through text. Below are two written reflections kindly shared by audience:


Maria Sanchez Alonso (audience member)
“The performance has a mirror effect, you sit down, with the rest of the audience, in the chair that is there just for you. The encounter with all these unknown people in this unknown place, an extremely evocative and suggestive soundtrack that shifts between low sounds, words and phrases, evocative sound landscapes and silence. The sound immersed me in different inner places and at the same time changed the outside landscape of the performance, making it available for imagination, open to interpretation, even transforming reality because the eyes that look and the body that feels is affected and on a sound journey. There was space for me as an audience to observe the outside from a different place than usual, inspired and guided by the soundtrack which possessed a non-rational harmony, moving between inner and outer space.

Time is questioned in the Waiting Room, observing how you get into the situation of ‘waiting’ sitting on a chair, it gives you the opportunity to see yourself in action. What are the expectations, how you react when the performers begin to move and the reality of the scene starts to change in a way that you cannot expect, or at least I didn’t. It was a sweet silent surprise. An intelligent and intimate invitation to reflect about social behavior, our own relationship to reality and external inputs, the masks we decide to wear depending on how reality is appearing to us, the consideration and experience of time and space. How time changes depending on where you are, not physically, but with your mind, body and spirit. You don’t know what you wait for, and at the end it doesn’t even matter because what is there, it’s enough, so you can relate to ‘what is’ and dive into this experience. Or not? Space is also being questioned, the physical space and also the inner space. Where are you? Sitting down on a chair with a lot of other strangers, but you are also on that day where your father took you to the sea for the first time, at that café where he told you about his love, on that day where you watched for the first time the images of September 11, or how beautiful it was the first time you saw a flower opening for the spring.

Reality constantly bending, space dimensions transformed without being noticed, time of waiting needing to be reconsidered and experienced in new ways. It teaches me a lot about us, as humans, as social creatures. It teaches me about how we name things and want to narrow them into definitions and concepts. It reminds you again about the wildness of it and the truth of the non-defined reality, the constant change and range of possibilities and our own decision making. How we create our own reality, how we react to reality, and what it would mean to act instead of reacting?”


Phil I. (audience member)
“I really liked the serious bordering on prison guard entry. nobody knew what was up and so there was uneasiness, even maybe a bit of fear - as far as you get with that in civilized surroundings. reminded me of banksys dimsaland. the waiting was a bit daunting, but hey, its called waiting room. good to zoom in tough. I was really tired, so for me it was bordering suffering. sounds worse than it should. And was also good for watching people: the suspicion I nearly fell asleep when the first performer began. from this point even more suspicion, as you didnt know who was in. the girl next to me was either very extroverted or on shrooms and joined in laughing. when people started moving around one of the first ones pretty fast came to me. i tried to avoid eye contact as I prefer to be a spectator. But she came anyways, and it was hardcore. She was suffering- sort of? But very close to me. I rarely ever could smell, even nearly feel persons unbeknownst to me that intensely. To be honest: It was hell for me. Although socialized here I am used to finnish standards of distance: 1,60m (yes, there are studies about that). I held completely still and my eyes wanted to pop out. I was extremely tense. And really glad when she left. To my surprise the shroomgirl hugged her. Would never have occurred my mind. Cant really say why, but maybe its like touching Mona Lisas nose: Dont mess with art. But more probable its just because closeness is not really my superpower. The chairs were also ordered in an interesting way: I felt remote in my position because of being in front, but at the same time close to a lot of people. As you can guess I was happy not to sit close to somebody else in my face. I also had to look a lot at the first girl performing.. I first thought it was a guy, and this notion oscillated. All in all it was great, very intense. The best part is not knowing what you are getting into. Or why. Thanks for that!” 


Concept, Artistic direction, and Sound design: Grace Euna Kim
Technical support: Andrea Parolin, Michele Piazzi
Photo documentation: Julio Alcántara
Performers: Karina Suarez Bosche, Danilo Andres Sepulveda Cofre, Lan Hungh, Tarren Johnson, Sandra Julve, Irene Pascual, Nana Senderovitz, Sabina Celeste, Yan Gi Cheng, Paula Montecinos, Dyaa Naim, Alyona Sokhan