NEW PERFORMANCE BY GOAT ISLAND

We began this piece with an imagined research trip to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. We were fascinated by the lifespan of a building that had begun as a Byzantine church, was converted to a mosque, and then converted again to a museum. We wondered what alterations might have been made to the space to accommodate these conflicting uses, and we wondered what kind of a performance we might make in response. However, we lacked the funds to travel to Turkey, and instead found ourselves researching a similar building in Zagreb, Croatia, where our tour of our last performance took us. This round building in Zagreb was a museum, then a mosque, then a museum again. It is still referred to as the dzamija, the Croatian word for mosque.

At this point in its development, our performance situates between an audience on two sides. Its structure reflects the history of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia: church/mosque/museum, considered as movements on different planes. Part 1 is a dance in rounds of detailed movement. The performers diverge and reconverge to a regular beat with irregular measures. Part 2 is built around a series of instructions from invited responders. A micro-performance of restrained words and gestures on a bare stage answers each recited instruction. Part 3 is a high-energy concert, museum, and archive, populated with colliding futures and restless ghosts.

We have also decided that this will be Goat Island’s last piece. After over twenty years of working, we will end the company after making and touring this piece. We will go on to pursue other creative endeavors as individuals and friends. With this in mind the performance is developing as a meditation on and a celebration of lastness (the quality of being last).