You have been told what to do every moment of the day, for years on end. The voice in your headphones has understood who you are and gives instructions which mirror what you'd be doing anyway. A life free of dither and uncertainty! In your job, this voice is a career-saver... but the day has come when you need to come 'off the headphones'. You need help.
Since 1999 Ant Hampton has explored the use of instructions given live to unrehearsed performers. This gave rise to the ongoing Autoteatro series wherein participants find themselves exchanging audience and performer roles by simply following instructions, often heard via headphones.
GuruGuru is the most adventurous so far. Five participants are led by a sixth, on-screen, animated and somewhat disturbing character whose twin roles of marketing and spiritual Guru are confused by his reliance on untested and accident-prone technologies. The overproduced, digital sheen of our focus-group world cracks open to reveal the dangerous, boiling absurdity within. A hilarious chaos develops, exposing today's consumer-mad inability to distinguish between what we want, and what we need.
FURTHER NOTES & PROGRAMME INFO HERE (nb - spoilers - best read afterwards)
GuruGuru (round-and-round in Japanese) is created by Ant Hampton together with two long-time collaborators -
Isambard Khroustaliov (Sam Britton)
has been involved in nine theatre productions with Ant Hampton since 1993. Rotozaza’s first show with instructions to an unrehearsed performer, BLOKE, was a collaboration between Ant and Sam in Paris,1999. An internationally renowned and pioneering composer of electro-acoustic / contemporary classical music, Sam trained at IRCAM in Paris and is one half of the group ICARUS.
Icarus , Not Applicable and Isambard's own site
Joji Koyama
Born in Tokyo and based in London, Joji Koyama is an award-winning film-maker, animator and graphic artist. He is the director of the short films 'From Nose to Mouth' (Animate Projects), 'Watermelon Love' (Channel 4, NESTA), and most recently 'First Place' (Animasivo). His films have been widely screened at international film festivals, galleries and museums. He is also known for his work directing music videos under the alias Woof Wan-Bau for the likes of Four tet, Mogwai and Coldcut.
see Joji Koyama.com
