Dan Scott

Second Hand History was a performance that explored the relationship between memory and narrative. Using clothes found on the street around the performance venue as a starting point, audience members were encouraged to create biographies for the clothes, and to transmit them aurally, creating a false and unreliable oral history.

Upon entering the theatre, every member of the audience received an item of found clothing and instructions for participation. On cue they were invited to hand over their garments and (as the performer put them on) recount a brief anecdote the garment had inspired, or relay thoughts about the previous owner, into a microphone. As the clothes layered up so, via live loops, did the words and stories, creating an aural tapestry of stories, effecting a cumulative embodiment of both the clothes and their histories. The narratives were set against a backing track constructed entirely from the sounds of the clothes, including zips, twangs of elastic and the rattling of beads.

Photos from Second Hand History (above)

Performance with 60 items of found clothing, one microphone and live mix on Ableton Live. Boca Nord, Barcelona: 45 mins