PREMISE

The premise of “The Collector” is the same as the premise I arrived at for “Honouring Mr. Stevens”. This premise draws on a Hindu proverb:

From Nothingness we come

By Nothingness we are sustained

To Nothingness we return

In Christian traditions, the equivalent may be “From ashes to ashes, dust to dust”, but the Hindu proverb resonates with me because of its focus on “Nothingness”. The work is a live, immersive installation experience that critiques Western materialism, examines our emotional connection to objects, and explores our inability to let go, both materially and psychically. “The Collector”, the Raven character, cannot relinquish earthly belongings without an interior struggle.

Growing up in deceased estates I saw how ultimately valueless material possessions truly are. Deceased estates were a fascinating place as a child. From the age of 8 years old, I was taught how to discern what was valueable (to sell at auction) and what was to be discarded. I witnessed the many different ways families/loved ones of the deceased processed and responded to the deceased estate auction process. Going through a deceased estate was fascinating. I became attuned to observing the traces of who had been in the house - the person’s identity, values, habits, passions and secrets. I term this “character archaeology”. Many years ago devised a workshop with this as the title, where people could experience a vastly truncated version of what I did as a child; solving who the person was who kept these objects. I still run this workshop now.

DESIGN

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with Jason Lehane on the overall shape, design and inclusions for “The Collector”. By “inclusions” I mean elements that are to be incorporated into the experience. Over the weekend, Jason finalised the footprint of the built site, so now we have specific dimensions to work with. The room will have a pitched roof, and the colour theme features navy blue on the dado walls, as these are being reused from Jason’s 2024 installation, “Things are not what they seem”.

I now have other artists joining the project: Cinda Manins is dressing the raven mask, and Pratyay Raha (a fellow PhD candidate at RMIT) is on board as sound designer.

What I know:

We are including small, Bunraku-style puppet instead of shadow puppetry.
The is a Deus Ex Machina within the room: the site itself will have capacity for responsiveness. This includes a gramophone and a lamp that activate.
The Raven character is female.
Birds, nests, clocks, eggs, jewellery are some of the material elements.
The period is late-Victorian/early Edwardian.
The experience is for two participants at a time.
Compared to “Honouring Mr. Stevens” (HMS) the focus is on playful interactivity with the performer. This is in response to feedback from HMS and a focus of the research in this iteration.
There is a telephone in the room which will ring, with a caller wanting to speak to a participant.

INTERACTIVITY

I am testing to what degree participants will interact with the Raven. Participants will first be free to explore the room without her present. She will appear, and (at this stage) will:

Offer tea
Invite to play a game (tic-tac-toe, a card game, or a card trick)
Ask for a dance
Request a contribution: Participants will be given a bead as “currency” before entering the room.