“For our house is our corner of the world. As has often been said, it is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the world.” – Gaston Bachelard

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“I, a universe of atoms. An atom in the universe” – Richard Feynman

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House Taken Over was a performance of 45 minutes based on a short story written by Julio Cortazar by the same name. It was an interdisciplinary immersive performance juxtaposing cinema and theatre as two media of art. The performance began with audience watching a movie and further the audience was ushered to go between the split of the cinema screen to witness a performance taking place on the set where the movie was being shot live. As the audience entered the set, they would witness multiple miniature landscapes which were captured by the camera deceiving their scale to be life size on the movie screen.

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Audience entering into the movie set was metaphorically played to signify strangers taking over the house. Nostalgia of the house, where one had lived long ago and the causes for one’s departure was evoked through the voice-overs and actions. Richard Feynman’s poem, ‘a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe’ and the description of the house in the story by Cortazar were narrated in the voice-over of the film. Two human figures behind the screen manipulating objects and filming every site within the set could be read as the mere creators of an intimate, personal space. 

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Concept, design and execution: Pannaga Jois & Francine Kliemann 
Music: Laura Guarch

Cinematography: Chuhang Ma

Video Editing: Victoria Jazwiecaka

Light and sound operation: Emmie Davies

 

June 2017
Venue: George Wood Theatre, Goldsmiths, London, UK