Suggested Stage Directions Concerning Shiny Objects performance, 25 min., 2023–

Concept and script by Marie Vedel and Tringa Gashi
Starring Benedikte Esperi, Marie Vedel and Tringa Gashi

Documentation from performance at 13festivalen, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2023

Graphic design: Linnea Rutz

Suggested Stage Directions Concerning Shiny Objects is both a script and a performance, inspired by a scientific experiment in which researchers have investigated the human attraction to shiny objects. The study finds that rather than being a signifier of wealth, the attraction to shiny things is due to the universal human need for water and the sea. The work draws from academia, while making idiosyncratic connections, using improvisational methods as part of constructing its scores.

Art often flirts with both an exclusive and an exclusionary aesthetic. In the performance, the obsession with the shiny is manifested through a participant’s horny boredom and a dog’s absurd thirst for water. Salty crackers and bottles of water are scattered around the room. The shiny isn’t physically present but rather something for the audience to imagine.

The intention is that the script becomes a tool for collective use. The manuscript is intended to be rewritten, designed, read and performed in such a way that the material alters depending on the context in which it is shown.