On Making an Ecosystem

One of the guiding principles in making Above Me The Wide Blue Sky has been the idea of an ecosystem.  A key characteristic of ecosystems is that they’re layered and intertwined, not categorised:  individual elements co-existing and interacting, in a dynamic and constant flux.  The piece is structured as a series of cycles of evolution and growth followed by disintegration and unravelling; a blossoming which is followed by decay.  These cycles unfold through the pre-performance installation, and the performance text itself has a structure in which more and more complex images are built up and then taken apart.  Making a project like this, in which the structure is organic, cyclical, repetitive and dynamic, we have tried to create a strong sense of time passing, of beautiful complexity, of constant change.  We want this experience to be rich, sensual, and evocative: a space for experience rather than rational understanding.  Think of it as the weather:  full of unexpected events and new rhythms, somehow familiar and frequently strange.Ecosystems are alive.  We hope you'll come and live with us, with our new work, for a while...