Invisible Messages
Invisible Messages is a surreal dissection of disappearance and identity conducted by three people whose journeys around the world serve as a springboard for an investigation of the ephemeral nature of perception, mobility and fame. Their intertwining narratives take the audience on a visually intense journey from the depths of the brain to the most remote corner of the Gobi desert in search of an understanding of what it means to be truly present in the modern world.
The theme of perception unfolds around a woman who suffers from an affliction to a part of her brain called Area 25 which causes acute depression – after she is treated for it with electrode implants, she decides to relive her life, both good experiences and bad, in order to truly feel them. Mobility is explored by a man who is constantly running away and has decided to completely disappear from his life via the Trans-Siberian Railway. Lastly, an encounter with fame and obliteration of personal identity is related by a girl who has recently discovered that she isn’t who she thought she was – her memory of the first ten years of her life have come back suddenly when she sees a made-for-TV movie about a tragic accident that happened to her as a toddler. These three modern creatures cross, connect and eventually collide.
The genesis for Invisible Messages is particularly fascinating; Artistic Director Peter Petralia conducted an adventurous journey-cum-experiment in September of 2005 on the Trans-Siberian Railway. He arranged to meet with artists from around the world for as long as the train was in the station. He would give them an art object, a “package” and they, in return, would send something back to him. The goal was to send out strands of ideas like a virus and see what happened. Some of the meetings were grander than others. When he stepped off the train at 5 a.m. in Irkutsk he was surprised to find a long banner stretching across the platform emblazoned with a giant ‘Welcome Peter Petralia.’ The visit coincided with an arts festival and since his stop was only for 15 minutes, the curator brought the festival to the train station.
Neither the packages delivered nor the ones he received in return were what he had anticipated. Instead of simply recording day-to-day occurrences and fictionalizing them, the packages ended up capturing emotions, experiences and ideas that have no direct physical manifestation, i.e., the invisible journey. The resulting constellation of collaborative art objects, experiences and stories culminate in this unique multi-media/theatre performance.Invisible Messages is more than a documentation of his journey – it is, in a sense, a continuation of it – one on which the audience is invited to join in.
Invisible Messages premiered in 2006 at Performance Space 122 in New York City.