Let’s Inject Some Randomness into the City: Reflecting on Eliza Soroga’s Site-Specific Performances in London and Prague: An Experiential Study on EcoPoetry and VocalAesthesis in Natural Environments

Abstract

From 2014 to 2023 I created a sequence of three site-specific performances developed in public spaces. Making art in public spaces is a purposeful choice; the real world, as opposed to the theatre world is subject to randomness, an element which adds unpredictability to the artistic practice as a desired challenge and risk.
The first performance was in London Bridge (London) entitled Breakfast on London Bridge (2014). It experimented with a simple rhythmic contradiction: how a slow-pace everyday action of having breakfast blends in with the quick-pace of a rush hour on a Monday morning.
The second one, in Oxford Circus (London), entitled Women in Agony (2015) intended to make a comment on urban alienation, neurosis, uniformity and consumerism. Sixteen women gathered in the middle of the pavement amongst fashion victims in rush hour and simultaneously screamed.
The third one took place in Prague's historic centre entitled IN QR WE TRUST (2023) reflecting on post COVID-19 changes and the rapid digitalisation of our everyday lives. The latter was part of the Prague Quadrennial Performance Design programme.
In this essay, I would like to reflect on these works by posing some research questions: What is the dialogue between everyday life and Performance and the urge to create a rare encounter with passers-by? How do we conceive of lived public experiences as revealing the possibilities for re-inventing public spaces? How do we incorporate the reality of the chosen sites reaching out for the poetics of places by using the site-sensitive approach into the making? What does unpredictability and randomness have to offer to the experience of public space?
These performances witness the possibility of a new public sphere, open to the unpredictable vitality of spontaneous authentic reactions. This is achieved through injecting randomness, spontaneity and risk into a metabolism stunned by repetition and routine.